Related papers: Inflation and the Fine-Tuning Problem
We present a generic inference method for inflation models from observational data by the usage of higher-order statistics of the curvature perturbation on uniform density hypersurfaces. This method is based on the calculation of the…
It is becoming increasingly clear that large but rare fluctuations of the primordial curvature field, controlled by the tail of its probability distribution, could have dramatic effects on the current structure of the universe -- {\it e.g.}…
We revisit the time evolution of a flat and non-flat direction system during inflation. In order to take into account quantum noises in the analysis, we base on stochastic formalism and solve coupled Langevin equations numerically. We focus…
We argue that the fine tuning problems of scalar-driven inflation may be worse than is commonly believed. The reason is that reheating requires the inflaton to be coupled to other matter fields whose vacuum fluctuations alter the inflaton…
Usual inflation is realized with a slow rolling scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. In contrast, we consider dynamics of a scalar with a flat effective potential, conformally coupled to gravity. Surprisingly, it contains an attractor…
Pseudo-Goldstone bosons (pGBs) can provide technically natural inflatons, as has been comparatively well-explored in the simplest axion examples. Although inflationary success requires trans-Planckian decay constants, f > Mp, several…
Recently a mechanism was proposed whereby the primordial density perturbations are generated at the end of inflation. We continue the analysis of the proposed model of this mechanism and calculate the maximum extent to which the density…
Natural inflation is an attractive model for primordial inflation, since the potential for the inflaton is of the pseudo Nambu-Goldstone form, $V(\phi)=\Lambda^4 [1+\cos (\phi/f)]$, and so is protected against radiative corrections.…
We study the presence of chaotic behavior in phase space in the pre-inflationary stage of hybrid inflation models. This is closely related to the problem of initial conditions associated to these inflationary type of models. We then show…
Trapped inflation is a mechanism in which particle production from the moving inflaton is the main source of friction in the inflaton equation of motion. The produced fields source inflaton perturbations, which dominate over the vacuum…
The relaxion scenario presents an intriguing extension of the standard model in which the particle introduced to solve to the strong CP problem, the axion, also achieves the dynamical relaxation of the Higgs boson mass term. In this work we…
Cosmic inflation provides a window to the highest energy densities accessible in nature, far beyond those achievable in any realistic terrestrial experiment. Theoretical insights into the inflationary era and its observational probes may…
We study non-Gaussianity, the spectral index of primordial scalar fluctuations and tensor modes in models where fluctuations from the inflaton and the curvaton can both contribute to the present cosmic density fluctuations. Even though…
We consider inflationary models with the inflaton coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term assuming a special relation $\delta_1=2\lambda\epsilon_1$ between the two slow-roll parameters $\delta_1$ and $\epsilon_1$. For the slow-roll inflation, the…
A general formalism is developed to construct a Markov chain model that converges to a one-dimensional map in the infinite population limit. Stochastic fluctuations are therefore internal to the system and not externally specified. For…
We consider the influence of mode - mode coupling in the inflaton field on the spectrum of primordial fluctuations. To this end, we formulate a phenomenological model where the inflaton fluctuations are treated as a fluid undergoing…
In the ``natural inflation'' model, the inflaton potential is periodic. We show that Planck scale physics may induce corrections to the inflaton potential, which is also periodic with a greater frequency. Such high frequency corrections…
There is considerable interest in inflationary models with multiple inflaton fields. The inflaton field $\boldsymbol\phi$ that has been postulated to drive accelerating expansion in the very early universe has a corresponding potential $V$,…
We review the relation between the inflationary potential and the spectra of density (scalar) perturbations and gravitational waves (tensor perturbations) produced, with particular emphasis on the possibility of reconstructing the inflaton…
The non-linear dynamics of long-wavelength cosmological fluctuations may be phrased in terms of an effective classical, but stochastic evolution equation. The stochastic noise represents short-wavelength modes that continually redshift into…