Related papers: Torsion and the Probability of Inflation

Inflation in the framework of Einstein-Cartan theory is revisited. Einstein-Cartan theory is a natural extension of the General Relativity, with non-vanishing torsion. The connection on Riemann-Cartan spacetime is only compatible with the…

If inflation can occur only at the energy density V much smaller than the Planck density, which is the case for many inflationary models based on string theory, then the probability of quantum creation of a closed or an infinitely large…

It is widely accepted that the primordial universe experienced a brief period of accelerated expansion called inflation. This scenario provides a plausible solution to the horizon and flatness problems. However, the particle physics…

The recently proposed trans-Planckian censorship conjecture (TCC) seems to require that the energy scale of inflation is significantly lower than the Planck scale $(H_\text{inf}<10^{-20} \Mpl)$. This, in turn, implies that the…

The role of spin-torsion coupling to gravity is analyzed in the context of a model of chaotic inflation. The system of equations constructed from the Einstein-Cartan and inflaton field equations are studied and it is shown that spin-torsion…

We study the implications of the recently proposed Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (TCC) for early universe cosmology and in particular inflationary cosmology. The TCC leads to the conclusion that if we want inflationary cosmology to…

The probability of there being sufficient inflation to solve the fine-tuning associated with the horizon and flatness problems has recently been shown to be exponentially small, within the context of classical general relativity. Here this…

We are on the verge of the first precision testing of the inflationary cosmology as a model for the origin of structure in the Universe. I review the key predictions of inflation which can be used as observational tests, in the sense of…

Inflationary perturbations are approximately Gaussian and deviations from Gaussianity are usually calculated using in-in perturbation theory. This method, however, fails for unlikely events on the tail of the probability distribution: in…

It is sometimes argued that observation of tensor modes from inflation would provide the first evidence for quantum gravity. However, in the usual inflationary formalism, also the scalar modes involve quantised metric perturbations. We…

Inflation is the currently accepted paradigm for the beginnings of the Universe. To explain the observed almost scale invariant spectrum of density perturbations with only a slight spectral tilt, inflation must have been "slow roll", that…

In order to go beyond the mean-field approximation, commonly used in the inflationary computations, an identification of the quantum constituents of the inflationary background is made. In particular, the homogeneous scalar field…

In Poincare gauge theory of gravity, in addition to mass-energy content, spin is also a source for gravitational interactions. Although the effects of spin are negligible at low energies, they can play a crucial role at very early universe…

Inflation with tunneling from a false to a true vacuum becomes viable in the presence of a scalar field that slows down the initial de Sitter phase. As a by-product this field also sets dynamically the value of the Newton constant observed…

We construct a model of inflation based on a low-energy effective theory of spontaneously broken global scale invariance. This provides a shift symmetry that protects the inflaton potential from quantum corrections. Since the underlying…

We consider curved space quantum corrections to the equations of motion of the inflaton field in the early Universe. Using the stochastic formalism in phase space, we demonstrate that the quantum corrected evolution of the inflaton can…

We study minimal versions of Higgs inflation in the presence of a massless QCD axion. While the inflationary energy scale of the metric variant is too high to accommodate isocurvature bounds, it was argued that Palatini Higgs inflation…

The Weak Gravity Conjecture, if valid, rules out simple models of Natural Inflation by restricting their axion decay constant to be sub-Planckian. We revisit stringy attempts to realise Natural Inflation, with a single open string axionic…

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…

Recently, an interesting inflationary scenario, named Gauss-Bonnet inflation, is proposed by Kanti et al.~\cite{Kanti:2015pda,Kanti:2015dra}. In the model, there is no inflaton potential but the inflaton couples to the Guass-Bonnet term. In…