Related papers: Addendum to "Superimposed Oscillations in the WMAP…
We argue that the observed large-scale cosmic microwave anomalies, discovered by WMAP and confirmed by the Planck satellite, are most naturally explained in the context of a marginally-open universe. Particular focus is placed on the dipole…
The apparent alignment of the cosmic microwave background multipoles on large scales challenges the standard cosmological model. Scalar field inflation is isotropic and cannot account for the observed alignment. We explore the imprints, a…
Until recently our knowledge of the primordial curvature perturbation was relatively modest. Ever since COBE delivered its map of data we know the scalar spectrum of primordial perturbations is approximately flat, with the power being only…
The inflationary scenario has become the paradigm of early universe cosmology, and - in conjuction with ideas from superstring theory - has led to speculations about an "inflationary multiverse". From a point of view of phenomenology, the…
The phenomenon of resonant production of particles {\it after} inflation has received much attention in the past few years. In a new application of resonant production of particles, we consider the effect of a resonance {\em during}…
Comparisons of cosmological models to current data show that the presence of a non-trivial feature in the primordial power spectrum of fluctuations, around the scale k=0.05 h/Mpc, is an open and exciting possibility, testable in a near…
Scalar fields provide attractive modifications of pre-BBN cosmology, which have interesting implications for dark matter abundances. We analyse the effect of these modifications on the number of e-foldings between horizon exit of CMB modes…
We consider the imprints of local massive defects, such as a black hole or a massive monopole, during inflation. The massive defect breaks the background homogeneity. We consider the limit that the physical Schwarzschild radius of the…
The background evolution in two-field inflation can feature two distinct stages, corresponding to the evolution along two successive field directions. When the second stage occurs at a significantly lower energy scale, the inflationary…
String/M theory inspires an uncertainty relation between space and time which deviates from general relativity. It is possible to explore this deviation from cosmological observations, in particular from the CMB fluctuation spectrum. This…
We investigate inflationary scenarios driven by a class of potentials which are similar in form to those that arise in certain minimal supersymmetric extensions of the standard model. We find that these potentials allow a brief period of…
We show that multi-field inflationary models with negligible turning in field space during inflation can lead to an effective sourcing of adiabatic from entropic perturbations {\it after} the end of inflation. We illustrate this general…
Inflation offers a simple model for very early evolution of our Universe and the origin of primordial perturbations on large scales. Over the last 25 years we have become familiar with the predictions of single-field models, but inflation…
We study the primordial tensor perturbation produced from the double inflationary scenario with an intermediate break stage. Because of the transitions, the power spectrum deviates from the vacuum one and there will appear oscillatory…
We revisit the problem of constraining steps in the inflationary potential with cosmological data. We argue that a step in the inflationary potential produces qualitatively similar oscillations in the primordial power spectrum,…
We consider the space-condensate inflation model to study the primordial gravitational waves generated in the early Universe. We calculate the energy spectrum of gravitational waves induced by the space-condensate inflation model for full…
The detection of a primordial stochastic gravitational wave background has the potential to reveal unprecedented insights into the early universe, and possibly into the dynamics of inflation. Generically, UV-complete inflationary models…
We revisit the scenario where inflation is preceded by a radiation era by considering that the inflaton too could have been in thermal equilibrium early in the radiation era. Hence we take into account not only the effect of a…
The epoch when the Universe had a temperature higher than a GeV is long before any time at which we have reliable observations constraining the cosmological evolution. For example, the occurrence of a second burst of inflation (sometimes…
We investigate the enhancement of the power spectra large enough to produce primordial black holes in models with multiple scalar fields. We present analytic solutions for the perturbations in the case of constant turns without the need for…