Related papers: Scalar-tensor $\sigma$-cosmologies
Inflation is now an accepted paradigm in standard cosmology, with its predictions consistent with observations of the cosmic microwave background. It lacks, however, a firm physical theory, with many possible theoretical origins beyond the…
A viable model for inflation driven by a torsion function in a Friedmann background is presented. The scalar spectral index in the interval $0.92\lesssim n_{s}\lesssim 0.97$ is obtained in order to satisfy the initial conditions for…
We briefly review several Higgs inflation models and discuss their cosmological implications. We first classify the inflation models according to the predicted value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio: (i) $r = {\cal O}(0.01-0.1)$, (ii) $r =…
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…
We construct models with the Gauss-Bonnet term multiplied to a function of the scalar field leading to inflationary scenario. The consideration is related with the slow-roll approximation. The cosmological attractor approach gives the…
We investigate the cosmological inflation for the Einstein-Hilbert action plus the Higgs potential function and the Gauss-Bonnet term coupled with the Higgs scalar field through a dilaton-like coupling. Then, using the…
We propose a novel realization for the natural extrapolation of the continuous spontaneous localization (CSL) model, in order to account for the origin of primordial inhomogeneities during inflation. This particular model is based on three…
Inflation is often described through the dynamics of a scalar field, slow-rolling in a suitable potential. Ultimately, this inflaton must be identified as the expectation value of a quantum field, evolving in a quantum effective potential.…
We present new exact cosmological inhomogeneous solutions for gravity coupled to a scalar field in a general framework specified by the parameter $\lambda$. The equations of motion (and consequently the solutions) in this framework…
We argue that the presence of an inflationary epoch is a natural, almost unavoidable, consequence of the existence of a sensible effective action involving an infinite tower of higher-curvature corrections to the Einstein-Hilbert action. No…
Motivated by constant-G theory, we introduce a one-parameter family of scalar-tensor theories as an extension of constant-G theory in which the conformal symmetry is a cosmological attractor. Since the model has the coupling function of…
We discuss the cosmological phenomenology of biscalar-tensor models displaying a maximally symmetric Einstein-frame kinetic sector and constructed on the basis of scale symmetry and volume-preserving diffeomorphisms. These theories contain…
The dynamical consequences of a bimetric scalar-tensor theory of gravity with a dynamical light speed are investigated in a cosmological setting. The model consists of a minimally-coupled self-gravitating scalar field coupled to ordinary…
One of the fundamental objectives of contemporary cosmology is to understand the physics of the inflationary universe, owing to its observably verifiable predictions about the very early universe with an energy scale of $\sim 10^{16}$ GeV.…
We determine the frequency of regions of small-field inflation in the Wigner landscape as an approximation to random supergravities/type IIB flux compactifications. We show that small-field inflation occurs exponentially more often than…
A scale-invariant universe can have a period of accelerated expansion at early times: inflation. We use a frame-invariant approach to calculate inflationary observables in a scale invariant theory of gravity involving two scalar fields -…
We propose a novel scenario of primordial inflation in which the inflaton goes through a spiral motion starting from around the top of a symmetry breaking potential. We show that, even though inflation takes place for a field value much…
We propose a new class of inflation model, G-inflation, which has a Galileon-like nonlinear derivative interaction of the form $G(\phi, (\nabla\phi)^2)\Box\phi$ in the Lagrangian with the resultant equations of motion being of second order.…
Scalar-tensor gravitational theories are important extensions of standard general relativity, which can explain both the initial inflationary evolution, as well as the late accelerating expansion of the Universe. In the present paper we…
We consider cosmological models based on the scalar-torsion gravity implying non-minimal coupling between torsion and the scalar field with certain relations between model's parameters. Based on observational constraints on the values of…