Related papers: Lorentz violating inflation and the Swampland
There are many single field inflationary models that are consistent with the recent Planck 2018 measurements of the spectral index $n_s$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. Despite good agreement with observational data some of these models…
We explore the possibility of describing our universe with a singularity--free, closed, spatially homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model, using only general relativity and a suitable equation of state which produces an inflationary…
We analyze cosmological perturbations to the linear order in the context of inflation with an arbitrary number of scalar fields. The fields take values on a non-trivial manifold with a positive-definite metric and are non-minimally coupled…
We argue that the Starobinsky model of inflation, realised via an $R^2$ term in the Lagrangian, can originate from quantum effects due to a tower of light species. By means of two separate arguments, we show how this implies that the scale…
We show that it is possible to obtain inflation and also solve the cosmological constant problem. The theory is invariant under changes of the Lagrangian density $L$ to $L+const$. Then the constant part of a scalar field potential $V$…
We propose an inflation scenario caused by an inflaton identified with a potential valley which brings about $CP$ violation in the standard model (SM). If singlet scalars have nonminimal couplings with the Ricci scalar in a suitable way,…
The difficulty of building metastable vacua in string theory has led some to conjecture that, in the string theory landscape, potentials satisfy $\left|\nabla V/V\right|\geq c\sim \mathcal{O}(1)$. This condition, which is supported by…
Inflation has been the leading early universe scenario for two decades, and has become an accepted element of the successful `cosmic concordance' model. However, there are many puzzling features of the resulting theory. It requires both…
Adopting a recently proposed single-superfield framework of supergravity inflation, we consider large field inflationary models in which MSSM Higgs-like fields play the role of the inflaton. In the simplest cases, the inflaton potential has…
In this work we shall study a class of $f(R,\phi)$ gravity models which during the inflationary era, which is the large curvature regime, result to an effective inflationary Lagrangian that contains a rescaled Einstein-Hilbert term $\alpha…
We consider a novel model of cosmic inflation. In our model one does not need any specific matter field to drive inflation, but inflation stems from the microscopic, Planck scale structure of spacetime, thus being of quantum gravitational…
Warm inflation, its different particle physics model implementations and the implications of dissipative particle production for its cosmology are reviewed. First, we briefly present the background dynamics of warm inflation and contrast it…
We are considering the cosmological consequences of an induced gravity theory coupled to the minimal standard model of particle physics. The non-minimal coupling parameter between gravity and the Higgs field must then be very large,…
We briefly review several Higgs inflation models and discuss their cosmological implications. We first classify the inflation models according to the predicted value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio: (i) $r = {\cal O}(0.01-0.1)$, (ii) $r =…
We re-examine the predictiveness of single-field inflationary models and discuss how an unknown UV completion can complicate determining inflationary model parameters from observations, even from precision measurements. Besides the usual…
It is well known that in manifestly Lorentz invariant theories with nontrivial kinetic terms, perturbations around some classical backgrounds can travel faster than light. These exotic "supersonic" models may have interesting consequences…
The trans-Planckian censorship conjecture (TCC) puts an upper bound on the life-time of de Sitter spacetimes. It has immediate consequences for inflationary cosmology. In the standard paradigm, the universe has experienced a single stage of…
While cosmological inflation can erase primordial inhomogeneities, it is possible that inflation may not begin in a significantly inhomogeneous universe. This issue is particularly pressing in multifield scenarios, where even the…
We discuss the relations between swampland conjectures and observational constraints on both inflation and dark energy. Using the requirement $|\nabla V|\geq c V$, with $c$ as a universal constant whose value can be derived from inflation,…
The possibility that the scale-invariant inflationary spectrum may be modified due to the hidden assumptions about the Planck scale physics -- dubbed as trans-Planckian inflation -- has received considerable attention. To mimic the possible…