Related papers: Graceful Exit in Extended Inflation and Implicatio…
Observable primordial tensor modes in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) would point to a high scale of inflation $H_{I}$. If the scale of Peccei-Quinn (PQ) breaking $f_a$ is greater than $\frac{H_{I}}{2\pi}$, CMB constraints on…
Space-based missions studying the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have progressively refined the parameter space in conventional models of inflation shortly ($\sim 10^{-37}$ seconds) after the big bang. While most inflationary scenarios…
Recent results from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments verify several of the predictions of inflation, while ruling out a number of alternative structure-formation scenarios. Given the successes of the theory, the obvious next…
In multi-field inflation one or more non-adiabatic modes may become light, potentially inducing large levels of isocurvature perturbations in the cosmic microwave background. If in addition these light modes are coupled to the adiabatic…
Cosmological singularities are often discussed by means of a gradient expansion that can also describe, during a quasi-de Sitter phase, the progressive suppression of curvature inhomogeneities. While the inflationary event horizon is being…
The ability to test and constrain theories of cosmic inflation will advance substantially over the next decade. Key data sources include cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements and observations of the distribution of matter at…
We propose an open hybrid inflation scenario that produces an open universe with a `tilted' n>1 spectrum of metric perturbations. The model contains a symmetry breaking field that tunnels to its true vacuum, producing a single bubble inside…
The conventional $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model supplemented by the inflation concept describes the Universe very well. However, there are still a few concerns: new Planck data impose constraints on the shape of the inflaton potential,…
We consider that the pre-inflation era is radiation-dominated, transiting smoothly to the inflationary era. We work out in detail the dynamics of inflaton fluctuations across the phase transition and the proper choices of initial vacuum…
Higher-form flux that extends in all 3+1 dimensions of spacetime is a source of positive vacuum energy that can drive meta-stable eternal inflation. If the flux also threads compact extra dimensions, the spontaneous nucleation of a bubble…
Inflation as the leading paradigm depicting the very early universe physics could leave imprints on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Using currently available CMB observations, we give the tightest constraints on inflation…
In this paper, we show that if we extend D-term hybrid inflation by adding a light scalar field which couples to a waterfall field, large non-Gaussianity can be generated at the end of inflation. Contribution of cosmic strings generated…
We discuss the implications for cosmic microwave background (CMB) observables, of a class of pre-inflationary dynamics suggested by string models where SUSY is broken due to the presence of D-branes and orientifolds preserving incompatible…
We perform a precision investigation of smooth quintessential inflation in which a single canonical scalar field unifies the two known phases of cosmic acceleration. Using a CMB-normalized runaway exponential potential, we obtain sharply…
Upper bounds on the energy scale at the end of inflation in the Randall-Sundrum type II braneworld scenario are derived. The analysis is made exact by introducing new parameters that represent extensions of the Hubble flow parameters. Only…
We exploit the complementarity among supersymmetry, inflation, axions, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) and Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) to constrain supersymmetric axion models in the light of the recent Planck and BICEP…
The prediction of a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of curvature and tensor fluctuations is among the main features of cosmic inflation. The current measurements of the primordial fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB)…
We extend an alternative, phenomenological approach to inflation by means of an equation of state and a sound speed, both of them functions of the number of $e$-folds and four phenomenological parameters. This approach captures a number of…
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…
Within the context of supersymmetric hybrid inflation, we study a multiple-stage inflationary scenario that can generate a primordial spectrum of adiabatic density perturbations with a break at $k_b \simeq 0.05 h Mpc^{-1}$. The presence of…