Related papers: Hybrid Inflation, Reheating and Dark Radiation in …
We study the problem of obtaining de Sitter and inflationary vacua from dimensional reduction of double field theory (DFT) on nongeometric string backgrounds. In this context, we consider a new class of effective potentials that admit…
In the framework of effective field theories with prominent helicity-0 and helicity-1 fields coupled to each other via a dimension-3 operator, we study the dynamics of inflation driven by the helicity-0 mode, with a given potential energy,…
We propose a new class of inflationary solutions to the standard cosmological problems (horizon, flatness, monopole,...), based on a modification of old inflation. These models do not require a potential which satisfies the normal…
We present viable F-term realizations of the hybrid inflationary scenario in the context of supergravity addressing at the same time the well-known problems of the initial conditions and of the adequate suppression of the inflaton mass. An…
We describe models of single-field inflation with small and sharp step features in the potential (and sound speed) of the inflaton field, in the context of the Effective Field Theory of Inflation. This approach allows us to study the…
We investigate inflation within $f(R,\phi)$-theories, where a dynamical scalar field is coupled to gravity. A class of models which can support early-time acceleration with the emerging of an effective cosmological constant at high…
String theory abounds with light scalar fields (the dilaton and various moduli) which create a host of observational problems, and notably some serious cosmological difficulties similar to the ones associated with the Polonyi field in the…
In the approach of the effective field theory of modified gravity, we derive the second-order action and the equation of motion for tensor perturbations on the flat isotropic cosmological background. This analysis accommodates a wide range…
We study the spectrum, couplings and cosmological and astrophysical implications of the moduli fields for the class of Calabi-Yau IIB string compactifications for which moduli stabilisation leads to an exponentially large volume V ~ 10^{15}…
We derive several no-go theorems in the context of massive type IIA string theory compactified to four dimensions in a way that, in the absence of fluxes, preserves N=1 supersymmetry. Our derivation is based on the dilaton, Kaehler and…
We propose an extension of the Higgs inflation to the hybrid metric-Palatini gravity, where we introduce non-minimal couplings between Higgs and both the metric-type and the Palatini-type Ricci scalars. We study the inflationary…
We describe a broad class of multi-field inflationary models with spontaneously broken conformal invariance. It generalizes the recently discovered class of cosmological attractors with a single inflaton field. In the new multi-field…
We show that the dilaton and T-moduli can be stabilized by a single gaugino condensation mechanism in the four-dimensional effective field theory derived from Type IIB orientifolds. A crucial role is played by the mixing of the blowing-up…
Recent developments on large scale string moduli stabilization via non-geometric fluxes are reviewed. In the framework of type IIB orientifolds on fluxed Calabi-Yau manifolds, the existence of so-called flux-scaling minima provides a good…
We emphasize the importance of effects from heavy fields on supergravity models of inflation. We study, in particular, the backreaction of stabilizer fields and geometric moduli in the presence of supersymmetry breaking. Many effects do not…
We consider inflation in a universe with a positive cosmological constant and a nonminimally coupled scalar field, in which the field couples both quadratically and quartically to the Ricci scalar. When considered in the Einstein frame and…
The properties of the effective scalar potential are studied in the framework of type IIB string theory, taking into account perturbative and non-perturbative corrections. The former modify the K\"ahler potential and include $\alpha'$ and…
This article represents the author's PhD thesis which is focused on moduli stabilisation in type IIB Calabi-Yau flux compactifications and its applications to cosmology. I derive the topological conditions on an arbitrary Calabi-Yau to give…
We show that a moduli space of the form predicted by string theory, lifted by supersymmetry breaking, gives rise to successful inflation for large regions of parameter space without any modification or fine tuning. This natural realization…
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…