Related papers: Large Field Polynomial Inflation: Parameter Space,…
Because the inflationary mechanism is extremely sensitive to UV-physics, the construction of theoretically robust models of inflation provides a unique window on Planck-scale physics. We review efforts to use an axion with a shift symmetry…
We present an explicit cosmological model where inflation and dark energy both could arise from the dynamics of the same scalar field. We present our discussion in the framework where the inflaton field $\phi$ attains a nearly constant…
We consider a noncommutative (NC) inflationary model with a homogeneous scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. The particular NC inflationary setting produces entirely new consequences. We first analyze the free field case and…
We study the robustness of single-field inflation against inhomogeneities. We derive a simple analytic criterion on the shape of the potential for successful inflation in the presence of inhomogeneities, and demonstrate its validity using…
We develop a model of eternal topological inflation using a racetrack potential within the context of type IIB string theory with KKLT volume stabilization. The inflaton field is the imaginary part of the K\"ahler structure modulus, which…
With the WMAP data we can now begin to test realistic models of inflation involving multiple scalar fields. These naturally lead to correlated adiabatic and isocurvature (entropy) perturbations with a running spectral index. We present the…
Single-field models of inflation are analysed in light of the WMAP five-year data. Assuming instantaneous reheating, we find that modular/new inflation models with small powers in the effective inflaton self-interaction are more strongly…
Motivated by trans-Planckian issues in inflation, we determine the Hilbert space and amplitudes of quantum perturbations in the general low-energy effective theory of (multi-)field inflation without relying on the sub-horizon limit. The…
In this paper, we study two inflationary models, namely, monomial inflation and the simplest $\alpha$-attractor inflation, within extra-dimensional frameworks. We consider three extra-dimensional setups: Dark Dimension, which embeds one…
Flat directions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) can become unstable due to radiative corrections, and the global minimum of the (zero temperature) potential can lie at large values of the squark and/or slepton fields.…
During inflation, there is a preferred reference frame in which the expansion of the background spacetime is spatially isotropic. In contrast to Minkowski spacetime, observables can depend on the velocity of the system with respect to this…
We find the best-fit cosmological parameters for a scenario of inflation with only the sufficient amount of accelerated expansion for the $\lambda\phi^4$ potential. While for the simplest scenario of chaotic inflation all observable…
It is generally believed that in single-field slow-roll inflation, a large tensor-to-scalar ratio $r > 0.1$ requires inflaton field values close to or above the Planck scale. Recently, it has been claimed that $r > 0.15$ can be achieved…
We consider observational constraints and fine-tuning issues in a renormalizable model of inflection point inflation, with two independent parameters. We derive constraints on the parameter space of this model arising from the WMAP 7-year…
Within the $\alpha$-attractors framework we investigate scalar potentials with the same pole as the one featured in the kinetic term. We show that, in field space, this leads to directions without a plateau. Using this, we present a…
We consider a class of helical phase inflation models from the ${\mathcal N}=1$ supergravity where the phase component of a complex field acts as an inflaton. This class of models avoids the eta problem in supergravity inflation due to the…
In this work we investigate a inflationary scenario generated by a large scalar field $\phi$ that non-minimally couples to a $f(R)$ modified gravity model. For a Starobinsky's like model, it is found that along a particular flat direction,…
We construct a toy a model which demonstrates that large field single scalar inflation can produce an arbitrarily small scalar to tensor ratio in the window of e-foldings recoverable from CMB experiments. This is done by generalizing the…
In this paper, we explore the inflationary dynamics of the $\beta$-exponential potential model, where a scalar field couples to quadratic $(R + R^2)$ gravity. In this model, the inflaton is the field that determines the size of the extra…
The present measurement of the standard model (SM) parameters suggests that the Higgs effective potential has a maximum at the intermediate scale, and the electroweak (EW) vacuum is not absolutely stable. The simplest possibility for…