Related papers: General Analytical Conditions for Inflaton Fragmen…
We study initial conditions for inflation in scenarios where the inflaton potential has a plateau shape. Such models are those most favored by Planck data and can be obtained in a large number of model classes. As a representative example,…
We explore the dynamics and observational predictions of the Warm Little Inflaton scenario, presently the simplest realization of warm inflation within a concrete quantum field theory construction. We consider three distinct types of scalar…
Dynamics of the inflaton scalar field oscillating around a minimum of the singular potentials in the expanding Universe is investigated. Asymptotic formulas are obtained describing the cosmological expansion at the late times. The problem…
We present numerical simulations of fragmentation of the Affleck-Dine condensate in two spatial dimensions. We argue analytically that the final state should consist of both Q-balls and anti-Q-balls in a state of maximum entropy, with most…
We discuss the interaction between perturbations in the inflaton and the background during the preheating phase in simple inflationary models. By numerically solving the Einstein field equations we are able to assess the impact of…
We review some theoretical and statistical aspects of the origin of the large-scale structure in the Universe, in view of the two most widely known and accepted scenarios: the inflaton and the curvaton scenarios. Among the theoretical…
We study an inflation model with a flat scalar potential supported by observations and find that slow-roll inflation can emerge after a quasi-cyclic phase of the Universe, where it undergoes repeated expansions and contractions for a finite…
Homogeneous oscillations of the inflaton after inflation can be unstable to small spatial perturbations even without coupling to other fields. We show that for inflaton potentials $\propto |\phi|^{2n}$ near $|\phi|=0$ and flatter beyond…
Numerical relativity simulations provide a means by which to study the evolution and end point of strong over-densities in cosmological spacetimes. Specific applications include studies of primordial black hole formation and the robustness…
In this thesis we will primarily demonstrate how additional scalar degrees of freedom - which are motivated from many high-energy embeddings - open up new observational windows onto the physics of inflation. We construct a Bayesian…
Conditions are obtained for the existence of a warm inflationary attractor in the system of equations describing an inflaton coupled to radiation. These conditions restrict the temperature dependence of the dissipative terms and the size of…
We simulate fragmentation and gravitational collapse of cold, magnetized molecular clouds. We explore the nonlinear development of an instability mediated by ambipolar diffusion, in which the collapse rate is intermediate to fast…
We analyse numerically the onset of pre-big bang inflation in an inhomogeneous, spherically symmetric Universe. Adding a small dilatonic perturbation to a trivial (Milne) background, we find that suitable regions of space undergo…
We present two- and three-dimensional simulations of the growth of quantum fluctuations of the scalar fields in supersymmetric hybrid inflation models. For a natural range of couplings, sub-horizon quantum fluctuations undergo rapid growth…
We present a nonlinear study of the inflationary epoch based on numerical lattice simulations. Lattice simulations are a well-known tool in primordial cosmology, and they have been extensively used to study the reheating epoch after…
The early Universe may have passed through an extended period of matter-dominated expansion following inflation and prior to the onset of radiation domination. Sub-horizon density perturbations grow gravitationally during such an epoch,…
We study an inflationary scenario where thermal inflation is followed by fast-roll inflation. This is a rather generic possibility based on the effective potentials of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the context of particle physics models.…
The fragmentation of the Affleck-Dine condensate is studied by utilizing 3+1 dimensional numerical simulations. The 3+1 dimensional simulations confirm that the fragmentation process is very similar to the results obtained by 2+1…
We study the evolution of the curvature perturbation on the super-horizon scales starting from the inflationary epoch until there remains only a single dynamical degree of freedom, presureless matter, in the universe. We consider the cosmic…
Does the observable spectrum of cosmic fluctuations depend on detailed initial conditions? This addresses the question if the general inflationary paradigm is sufficient to predict within a given model the spectrum and amplitude of cosmic…