Related papers: Ultra-slow-roll inflation with quantum diffusion
We develop analytic and numerical techniques for studying the statistics of slow-roll inflation in random Gaussian landscapes. As an illustration of these techniques, we analyze small-field inflation in a one-dimensional landscape. We…
The slow-roll approximation is the usual starting point to study the constraints imposed on the inflaton potential parameters by the observational data. We show that, for a potential exhibiting at least two extrema and giving rise to a…
Methods and concepts for the study of phase transitions mediated by a time-dependent order-parameter field in curved spacetimes are discussed. A practical example is the derivation of an effective (quasi-)potential for the description of…
We present the first quantum field theory model of inflation that is renormalizable in the matter sector, with a super-Hubble inflaton mass and sub-Planckian field excursions, which is thus technically natural and consistent with a…
Constant-rate inflation, including ultra-slow-roll as a special case, has been widely applied to the formation of primordial black holes with significant deviation from the standard slow-roll conditions at both the growing and decaying…
We present a study of the Effective Field Theory (EFT) generalization of stochastic inflation in a model-independent single-field framework and its impact on primordial black hole (PBH) formation. We show how the Langevin equations for the…
There is theoretical evidence that the number of degrees of freedom in quantum fields decreases as one studies them at extremely short distances. This emerges from the study of entropy of black holes, as well as from holographic theories in…
Hybrid inflation is a two field model where inflation ends due to an instability. In the neighborhood of the instability point, the potential is very flat and the quantum fluctuations dominate over the classical motion of the inflaton and…
We obtain effective equations of inflationary dynamics for the mean inflaton and metric fields in the no-boundary and tunneling quantum states of the Universe. In the slow roll approximation (taking the form of the local Schwiger-DeWitt…
We develop in this thesis the principles governing the production of our universe's primordial inhomogeneities during its early phase of inflation. As a guiding thread we ask what physics during inflation can lead to perturbations so large…
We propose a novel enhancement mechanism of the curvature perturbations in the nonminimal derivative coupling inflation model with a coupling parameter related to the inflaton field. By considering a special form of the coupling parameter…
The next generation of space-borne gravitational wave detectors may detect gravitational waves from extreme mass-ratio inspirals with primordial black holes. To produce primordial black holes which contribute a non-negligible abundance of…
In view of cosmological parameters being measured to ever higher precision, theoretical predictions must also be computed to an equally high level of precision. In this work we investigate the impact on such predictions of relaxing some of…
It has recently been shown that in single field slow-roll inflation the total volume cannot grow by a factor larger than e^(S_dS/2) without becoming infinite. The bound is saturated exactly at the phase transition to eternal inflation where…
Using the $\delta N$ formalism we calculate the one-loop correction to the large-scale power spectrum of the curvature perturbation in the standard scenario where primordial black holes are formed in the early universe thanks to a phase of…
A description of the transition from the inflationary epoch to radiation domination requires the understanding of quantum fields out of thermal equilibrium, particle creation and thermalisation. This can be studied from first principles by…
Slow-roll of the inflaton (inflationary field) defines the standard dynamics of the inflationary epoch. However, the inflaton deviates from slow-roll when it encounters an extremely flat region in the inflationary potential, and enters a…
We investigate the amplification of curvature perturbations in a two-field inflation model featuring a Gaussian potential bump. When the inflaton encounters a potential bump along the inflationary trajectory, its rolling speed is generally…
We propose an intuitive framework for studying the problem of initial conditions in slow-roll inflation. In particular, we consider a universe at high, but sub-Planckian energy density and analyze the circumstances under which it is…
This review article aims at presenting the theory of inflation. We first describe the background spacetime behavior during the slow-roll phase and analyze how inflation ends and the Universe reheats. Then, we present the theory of…