Related papers: Warm inflation with a heavy QCD axion
The QCD axion solves the strong CP problem and represents an attractive particle candidate for cold dark matter (CDM). However, quantum fluctuations of the axion field during inflation easily result in large CDM isocurvature perturbations…
Warm inflationary universe models in a tachyon field theory are studied. General conditions required for these models to be realizable are derived and discussed. We describe scalar perturbations (in the longitudinal gauge) and tensor…
Models of axion inflation based on a single cosine potential require the axion decay constant $f$ to be super-Planckian in size. However, $f > M_{Pl}$ is disfavored by the Weak Gravity Conjecture (WGC). It is then pertinent to ask if one…
Inflation models can have an early phase of inflation where the evolution of the inflaton is driven by quantum fluctuations before entering the phase driven by the slope of the scalar field potential. For a Coleman-Weinberg potential this…
Departing from standard slow-roll conditions is one way of putting the inflationary paradigm to test, and constraining the dynamics of the inflaton field with a constant-rate of roll of the inflaton field, a.k.a. the constant-roll scenario,…
We study the process of primordial black hole (PBH) formation at the beginning of radiation era for the cosmological scenario in which the inflaton is a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (axion) and there is a coupling of the inflaton with some…
It is now understood that inflation dynamics comes in two forms, isentropic or cold inflation and nonisentropic or warm inflation. In the former, inflation occurs without radiation production, whereas in the latter both radiation production…
The main limitation for preinflationary breaking of Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is the upper bound on the Hubble rate during inflation from axion isocurvature fluctuations. This leads to a tension between high scale inflation and QCD axions…
Hot axions, thermally produced in the Early Universe, would contribute to dark radiation and are thus subject to present and future constraints from $N_{\rm eff}$. In this paper we quantify the contribution to $N_{\rm eff}$ and its…
We study warm inflation in the framework of $f(\phi)T$ gravity, where $\phi$ is the inflaton and $T$ is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. The inflaton field is assumed to roll on the natural potential and the result is analyzed in…
A pseudoscalar inflaton $\varphi$, coupled to the topological charge density $F\tilde{F}$ of a non-Abelian sector, can decay to gauge bosons ($\varphi\to g g $), which may thermalize rapidly. The friction felt by $\varphi$ is then increased…
Our present understanding of the reheating phase is incomplete due to a lack of observations. Apart from its cosmological implications, the reheating should play a vital role in particle physics and inflation model building. Conventionally…
We show that a dark Higgs field charged under U(1)$_{\rm H}$ gauge symmetry is trapped at the origin for a long time, if dark photons are produced by an axion condensate via tachyonic preheating. The trapped dark Higgs can drive late-time…
In this work we study one of the most appealing string theory-motivated models, we present a tachyonic inflationary model in the recently proposed symmetric teleparallel framework, and examine constraints on tachyon inflation with the…
We present a scenario where an axion-like field drives inflation until a potential barrier, which keeps a waterfall field at the origin, disappears and a waterfall transition occurs. Such a barrier separates the scale of inflation from that…
In the present work we study a warm inflationary model defined by a quasi-exponential inflaton potential and an inflaton decay rate proportional to the Hubble rate. The model is characterized by three free parameters. We compute the power…
We demonstrate that gravitational waves generated by efficient gauge preheating after axion inflation generically contribute significantly to the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom $N_\mathrm{eff}$. We show that, with…
This article presents a possible inflation scenario as a consequence of non-minimal gravitational couplings in the Conformal Standard Model. The model consists, in comparison to the SM, of additional right-chiral neutrinos and complex…
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 the hybrid inflation model where the inflaton field is nonminimally coupled to gravity. In the Jordan frame, the potential contains $\phi^4$ term as well as terms in the original hybrid inflation model. In our model, inflation…