Related papers: Modular inflation and the curvaton
The hierarchy of fermion masses in the standard model may arise via the breaking of discrete gauge symmetries. The renormalizable interactions of the flavor-symmetry-breaking potential can have accidental global symmetries that are…
We follow the evolution of the curvaton on superhorizon scales and check that the spectral tilt of the curvaton perturbations is unchanged as the curvaton becomes non-relativistic. Both inflation and pre-big bang cosmology can be treated…
The BICEP2 observations, if confirmed, point to a high scale of inflation and large field excursions during the inflationary era. Non-compact string moduli spaces are a suggestive setting for these phenomena. While unlikely to be described…
In natural inflation models, the inflaton is a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson and the flatness of the potential is protected by shift symmetries. In this framework, a successful inflation requires the global symmetry to be spontaneously…
In warm inflation models there is the requirement of generating large dissipative couplings of the inflaton with radiation, while at the same time, not de-stabilising the flatness of the inflaton potential due to radiative corrections. One…
We construct a natural inflation model in supergravity where the inflaton is identified with a modulus field possessing a shift symmetry. The superpotential for the inflaton is generated by meson condensation due to strong dynamics with…
We show that a minimal extension of the Standard Model including a new complex scalar field can explain inflation and the observed effective number of neutrinos. The real part of the singlet plays the role of the inflaton field, while the…
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…
Most models of inflation have small parameters, either to guarantee sufficient inflation or the correct magnitude of the density perturbations. In this paper we show that, in supersymmetric theories with weak scale supersymmetry breaking,…
This thesis presents a possible inflation scenario as a consequence of non-minimal gravitational couplings in the Conformal Standard Model. That model consists, in comparison to the SM, of additional right-chiral neutrinos and a complex…
Curvaton is an effectively massless field whose energy density during inflation is negligible but which later becomes dominant. This is a novel mechanism to generate the scale invariant perturbations. I discuss the possibility that the…
Thermal inflation driven by a scalar field called "flaton" is a possible scenario to solve the cosmological moduli problem. We study a model of thermal inflation with a flaton chemical potential. In the presence of the chemical potential, a…
We consider a novel cosmological scenario in which a curvaton is long-lived and plays the role of cold dark matter (CDM) in the presence of a short, secondary inflation. Non-trivial evolution of the large scale cosmological perturbation in…
We comprehensively explore the quadratic curvaton models in the chaotic inflation. In the light of the BICEP2 result $r \approx 0.2$, all model parameters and relevant observables are computed. It is found the curvaton field value is…
We carry out a comprehensive analysis of the simplest curvaton model, which is based on two non-interacting massive fields. Our analysis encompasses cases where the inflaton and curvaton both contribute to observable perturbations, and…
Extensions of the Standard Model and general relativity featuring a UV fixed point can leave observable implications at accessible energies. Although mass parameters such as the Planck scale can appear through dimensional transmutation, all…
Axion dark matter in high-scale inflation is subject to the isocurvature constraint, since quantum fluctuations of the axion field during inflation may exceed the current CMB bound. One conventional way to suppress these fluctuations is to…
It is known that if the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking field is displaced from its minimum during inflation, the axion isocurvature spectrum is generically strongly blue tilted with a break transition to a flat spectrum. We fit this…
In the realistic model of cosmic inflation the inflaton potential should be flat and stable under quantum corrections. It is natural to imagine that there is some symmetry behind and an idea of the inflaton as a Nambu-Goldstone boson of…
In models of natural inflation, the inflaton is an axion-like particle. Unfortunately, axion potentials in UV-complete theories appear to be too steep to drive inflation. We show that, even for a steep potential, natural inflation can occur…