Related papers: Starobinsky inflation with a quadratic Weyl tensor
A Friedman cosmology is investigated based on scalar-tensor gravitation with general metric coupling and scalar potential functions. We show that for a broad class of such functions, the scalar field can be dynamically trapped using a…
In the Einstein frame picture of Starobinky's $R^2$ inflation model, cosmic inflation is driven by a slowly rolling inflaton field, called scalaron, and followed by a coherently oscillating scalaron phase. Since the scalaron oscillates…
We give a general expression for the Weyl tensor two-point function in a general Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker spacetime. We work in reduced phase space for the perturbations, i.e., quantize only the dynamical degrees of freedom…
We generalise Einstein's formulation of the traceless Einstein equations to $f(R)$ gravity theories. In the case of the vacuum traceless Einstein equations, we show that a non-constant Weyl tensor leads via a conformal transformation to a…
We study two homogeneous supersymmetric extensions for the $f(R)$ modified gravity model of Starobinsky with the FLRW metric. The actions are defined in terms of a superfield $\mathcal{R}$ that contains the FLRW scalar curvature. One model…
In a ghost inflationary scenario, we study the observational consequences of a tilt in the potential of the ghost condensate. We show how the presence of a tilt tends to make contact between the natural predictions of ghost inflation and…
In this work we investigate the inflationary phenomenological implications of a recently developed ghost-free Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity. The resulting theory can be viewed as a scalar Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity, so by…
The Starobinsky model of inflation remains consistent with observation, forty years after its introduction. It provides a well motivated origin for the scalar inflaton, the "scaleron" with a mass of $O(10^{13})$ GeV, emerging as a graviton…
We investigate a class of models of topological inflation in which a super-Hubble-sized global monopole seeds inflation. These models are attractive since inflation starts from rather generic initial conditions, but their not so attractive…
Observational consequences of inflationary cosmology in the holographic dual of the Randall-Sundrum type II braneworld scenario, as motivated by the AdS/CFT correspondence, are investigated. High energy corrections to the standard…
The observational constraints on the primordial power spectrum have tightened considerably with the release of the first year analysis of the WMAP observations, especially when combined with the results from other CMB experiments and galaxy…
We present novel implementations of Starobisky-like inflation within Supergravity adopting Kaehler potentials for the inflaton which parameterize hyperbolic geometries known from the T-model inflation. The associated superpotentials are…
The theory of General Relativity was established on a spacetime manifold equipped with a metric tensor, $(\mathcal{M}_4,\text{g})$, and the connection on $\mathcal{M}_4$ identified with the Levi-Civita one. Even though there are valid…
Higher-order theories of gravity are a branch of modified gravity wherein the geometrodynamics of the four-dimensional Riemannian manifold is determined by field equations involving derivatives of the metric tensor of order higher than two.…
The celebrated Weinberg theorem in cosmological perturbation theory states that there always exist two adiabatic scalar modes in which the comoving curvature perturbation is conserved on super-horizon scales. In particular, when the…
Inflation has by-far set itself as one of the prime ideas in the current cosmological models that seemingly has an answer for every observed phenomenon in cosmology. More importantly, it serves as a bridge between the early quantum…
We study a model of inflation where the scalar perturbations are almost gaussian while there is sizable (equilateral) nongaussianity in the tensor sector. In this model, a rolling pseudoscalar gravitationally coupled to the inflaton…
Current bounds from the polarization of the CMB predict the scale-invariant gravitational wave (GW) background of inflation to be out of reach for upcoming GW interferometers. This prospect dramatically changes if the inflaton is a…
We revisit the Starobinsky model of inflation in light of recent data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), which indicates a potential preference for a slightly larger scalar spectral index $n_s$ than predicted by the standard $R^2$…
We consider the non-commutative inflation model of [3] in which it is the unconventional dispersion relation for regular radiation which drives the accelerated expansion of space. In this model, we study the evolution of linear cosmological…