Related papers: Parity-Odd and Even Trispectrum from Axion Inflati…
The effects of a scalar field, known as the "assistant field," which nonminimally couples to gravity, on single-field inflationary models are studied. The analysis provides analytical expressions for inflationary observables such as the…
We study classes of inflation models driven by antisymmetric tensor field, with minimal and nonminimal couplings to gravity, that address known issues of such models considered in the past. First we show that with a different choice of the…
Nowadays cosmological inflation is the most accepted mechanism to explain the primordial seeds that led to the structure formation observed in the Universe. Current observations are in well agreement to initial adiabatic conditions, which…
Slow-roll inflation is a successful paradigm. However we find that even a small coupling of the inflaton to other light fields can dramatically alter the dynamics and predictions of inflation. As an example, the inflaton can generically…
We propose a new mechanism to produce axion dark matter from inflationary fluctuations. Quantum fluctuations during inflation are strengthened by a coupling of the axion kinetic term to the inflaton, which we parametrize as an effective…
The main aim of this paper is to provide a qualitative introduction to the cosmic inflation and its relationship with current cosmological observations. The inflationary model solves many of the fundamental problems that challenge the…
The decay of massive particles during inflation generates characteristic signals in the squeezed limit of the primordial bispectrum. These signals are in particular distinctive in the regime of the quasi-single field inflation, where…
We explore the possibility to make use of cosmological data to look for signatures of unknown heavy particles whose masses are on the order of the Hubble parameter during the time of inflation. To be more specific we take up the…
We compare the standard single scalar field inflationary predictions with those of an inflationary phase driven by a tachyon field. A slow-roll formalism is defined for tachyon inflation and we derive the spectra of scalar and tensor…
An important prediction of inflation is the production of a primordial stochastic gravitational wave background. Observing this background is challenging due to the weakness of the signal and the simultaneous presence of an astrophysical…
Multifield models of inflation with nonminimal couplings are in excellent agreement with the recent results from {\it Planck}. Across a broad range of couplings and initial conditions, such models evolve along an effectively single-field…
Fermion condensate inflation, where inflation emerges from four-fermion interactions induced by spacetime torsion, removes the need for additional scalar fields beyond the Standard Model. In this framework, the fermion field can be…
We discuss inflation models within supersymmetry and supergravity frameworks with a landscape of chiral superfields and one $U(1)$ shift symmetry which is broken by non-perturbative symmetry breaking terms in the superpotential. We label…
We propose a model for inflation consisting of an axionic scalar field coupled to a set of three non-Abelian gauge fields. Our model's novel requirement is that the gauge fields begin inflation with a rotationally invariant vacuum…
Parity-odd domains, corresponding to non-trivial topological solutions of the QCD vacuum, might be created during relativistic heavy-ion collisions. These domains are predicted to lead to charge separation of quarks along the orbital…
We describe the general inflationary dynamics that can arise with a single, canonically coupled field where the inflaton potential is a 4-th order polynomial. This scenario yields a wide range of combinations of the empirical spectral…
We propose an inflationary scenario, M-flation, in which inflation is driven by three $N\times N$ hermitian matrices $\Phi_i, i=1,2,3$. The inflation potential of our model, which is strongly motivated from string theory, is constructed…
We propose a new class of natural inflation models based on a hidden scale invariance. In a very generic Wilsonian effective field theory with an arbitrary number of scalar fields, which exhibits scale invariance via the dilaton, the…
Inflation in the early Universe is one of the most promising probes of gravity in the high-energy regime. However, observable scales give access to a limited window in the inflationary dynamics. In this essay, we argue that quantum…
We consider a new inflationary model in which an antisymmetric tensor field $A_{\nu\rho\sigma}$ and its four-form field strength $F_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}=4\partial_{[\mu} A_{\nu\rho\sigma]}$ are coupled to the scalar sector of the standard…