Related papers: INFLATION VERSUS THE COSMOLOGICAL MODULI PROBLEM
We study solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation corresponding to an S-modular invariant N=1 supergravity model and a closed homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime. The issues of inflation and of the cosmological…
We propose a general scenario for moduli stabilization where low-energy supersymmetry can be accommodated with a high scale of inflation. The key ingredient is that the stabilization of the modulus field during and after inflation is not…
We argue that in the simplest version of the KKLT model, the maximal value of the Hubble constant during inflation cannot exceed the present value of the gravitino mass, H< m_{3/2}. This may have important implications for string cosmology…
High-scale string inflationary models are in well-known tension with low-energy supersymmetry. A promising solution involves models where the inflaton is the volume of the extra dimensions so that the gravitino mass relaxes from large…
In the context of inflationary models with a pre-inflationary stage, in which the Einstein equations are obeyed, the weak energy condition is satisfied, and spacetime topology is trivial, we argue that homogeneity on super-Hubble scales…
Inflationary models whose vacuum energy arises from a D-term are believed not to suffer from the supergravity eta problem of F-term inflation. That is, D-term models have the desirable property that the inflaton mass can naturally remain…
Supersymmetry is generally broken by the non-vanishing vacuum energy density present during inflation. In supergravity models, such a source of supersymmetry breaking typically makes a contribution to scalar masses of order ${\tilde m}^2…
In a previous paper we proposed a new approach to the beginning of inflation -- a lingering universe. The universe begins in a lingering state with a nearly vanishing Hubble parameter. This calls into question the absolute age of the…
We study the inflationary evolution of a scalar field $h$ with an unstable potential for the case where the Hubble parameter $H$ during inflation is larger than the instability scale $\Lambda_I$ of the potential. Quantum fluctuations in the…
We review the effects of heavy scalar fields during inflation in the framework of $\mathcal N = 1$ supergravity. Such heavy scalars can be geometric moduli from string compactifications or stabilizer fields from a different sector of the…
The main aim of this paper is to provide a qualitative introduction to the cosmic inflation and its relationship with current cosmological observations. The inflationary model solves many of the fundamental problems that challenge the…
Inflationary cosmology predicts that the particle horizon should be generically much bigger than the present-day Hubble radius, $1/H_0$. This implies a special regime of super-Hubble scale energy density fluctuations imprinted on the cosmic…
It has been shown that sub-Planckian models of inflation require initial homogeneity on super-Hubble scales under certain commonly held assumptions. Here I remark on the possible implications of this result for inflationary cosmology.
We investigate the possibility that the Universe may inflate due to moduli fields, corresponding to flat directions of supersymmetry, lifted by supergravity corrections. Using a hybrid-type potential we obtain a two-stage inflationary…
Does inflation provide a compelling explanation for why the universe is so large, so flat, and so old, and a predictive theory of density perturbations? In this brief contribution (based on the role of the author as moderator of the…
In the primordial universe, fields with mass much larger than the mass-scale of the event-horizon (such as the Hubble parameter in inflation) exist ubiquitously, and can be excited from time to time and oscillate quickly around their…
The Dark Side of the Universe, which includes the cosmological inflation in the early Universe, the current dark energy and dark matter, can be theoretically described by supergravity, though it is non-trivial. We recall the arguments pro…
We study the supergravity hybrid inflation model of Ref.[1] in the presence of a modulus field. The eta-problem is solved by a shift symmetry for the inflaton, which protects the inflaton mass even in the presence of the modulus field.…
Four-dimensional gravitational theories derived from an infinite sum of Lovelock curvature invariants, combined with a conformal rescaling of the metric, are equivalent to a subclass of shift-symmetric Horndeski theories that possess a…
We continue developing cosmological models involving nilpotent chiral superfields, which provide a simple unified description of inflation and the current acceleration of the universe in the supergravity context. We describe here a general…