Related papers: TwInflation
We present an effective model where the inflaton is a relaxion that scans the Higgs mass and sets it at the weak scale. The dynamics consist of a long epoch in which inflation is due to the shallow slope of the potential, followed by a few…
We show that simple strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theories with quantum moduli spaces can naturally lead to hybrid inflation. These theories contain no input dimensionful or small parameters. The effective superpotential is linear…
A field kinetic coupling with the Einstein tensor leads to a gravitationally enhanced friction during inflation, by which even steep potentials with theoretically natural model parameters can drive cosmic acceleration. In the presence of…
The cosmological implication of a double inflation model with hybrid + new inflations in supergravity is studied. The hybrid inflation drives an inflaton for new inflation close to the origin through supergravity effects and new inflation…
We discuss a new class of tribrid inflation models in supergravity, where the shape of the inflaton potential is dominated by effects from the K\"ahler potential. Tribrid inflation is a variant of hybrid inflation which is particularly…
We present a two stage hybrid inflationary scenario in non-minimal supergravity which can predict values of the tensor-to-scalar ratio of the order of few times 0.01. For the parameters considered, the underlying supersymmetric particle…
Inflation, as currently understood, requires the presence of fields with very flat potentials. Supersymmetric models in which supersymmetry breaking is communicated by supergravity naturally yield such fields, but the scales are typically…
The leading account of several salient observable features of our universe today is provided by the theory of cosmic inflation. But an important and thus far intractable question is whether inflation is generic, or whether it is finely…
We revisit models of natural inflation and show that the single-field effective theory described by the potential $V(a)\sim \cos\frac{a}{f}$ breaks down as the inflaton $a$ makes large-field excursions, even for values of $f$ smaller than…
We investigate whether Effective Field Theory (EFT) approaches, which have been useful in examining inflation and dark energy, can also be used to establish a systematic approach to inflationary reheating. We consider two methods. First, we…
We propose a new inflation model in which a gauge singlet inflaton turns into the Higgs condensate after inflation. The inflationary path is characterized by a moduli space of supersymmetric vacua spanned by the inflaton and Higgs field.…
I study two-stage hybrid inflation driven by moduli fields, corresponding to flat directions of supersymmetry, lifted by supergravity corrections. The first stage corresponds to a period of either fast-roll or `locked' inflation, induced by…
We discuss the phenomenological implications of hybrid natural inflation models in which the inflaton is a pseudo-Goldstone boson but inflation is terminated by a second scalar field. A feature of the scheme is that the scale of breaking of…
This work explores the possibility of inflation in a scale-symmetric extension of the Standard Model Higgs sector, where the Higgs field $\phi_1$ is coupled to a singlet scalar, the dilaton $\phi_0$. The two-scalar theory is formulated…
Realising $F$-term slow-roll inflation in supergravity is non-trivial due to the well-known $\eta$-problem. The common strategy to solve the problem is to impose a shift symmetry on the K\"ahler potential, but this often leads to a negative…
Inflation based on scalar fields which are non-minimally coupled to gravity has been proposed as a way to unify inflation with weak-scale physics, with the inflaton being identified with the Higgs boson or other weak-scale scalar article.…
Higgs inflation is a simple and elegant model in which early-universe inflation is driven by the Higgs sector of the Standard Model. The Higgs sector can support early-universe inflation if it has a large nonminimal coupling to the Ricci…
We find multi-scalar effective field theories (EFTs) that can achieve a slow inflationary roll despite having a scalar potential that does not satisfy the usual slow-roll condition (d V)^2 << V^2/Mp^2. They evade the usual slow-roll…
We propose a solution to the eta-problem in supergravity (SUGRA) hybrid inflation using a Nambu-Goldstone-like shift symmetry within a new class of models. The flatness of the tree-level inflaton potential is ensured by shift symmetry…
In scalaron-Higgs inflation the Standard Model Higgs boson is non-minimally coupled to gravity and the Einstein-Hilbert action is supplemented by the quadratic scalar curvature invariant. For the quartic Higgs self-coupling $\lambda$ fixed…