Related papers: Multiple Inflation, Cosmic String Networks and the…
In this paper, we investigate the no-boundary wave function and the complex-valued instantons for two-field inflation models that have different masses. If there is a relatively massive direction, to classicalize the massive field, the…
We investigate the effects of large inhomogeneities in both the inflaton field and its momentum. We find that in general, large kinetic perturbations reduce the number of e-folds of inflation. In particular, we observe that inflationary…
We construct a multi-field inflationary model consisting of multiple K\"ahler moduli derived from type IIB string compactification in the large volume limit. The model consists of both heavy and light fields, with the former being frozen…
We study the evolution of simple cosmic string loop solutions in an inflationary universe. We show, for the particular case of circular loops, that periodic solutions do exist in a de Sitter universe, below a critical loop radius $R_c…
We demonstrate that a gas of wrapped branes in the early Universe can help resolve the cosmological Dine-Seiberg/Brustein-Steinhardt overshoot problem in the context of moduli stabilization with steep potentials in string theory. Starting…
We discuss a calculable version of brane inflation, in which a set of parallel D-brane and anti-D-brane worlds, initially displaced in extra dimension, slowly attract each other. In the effective four-dimensional theory this slow motion of…
We provide a pedagogical overview of inflation in string theory. Our theme is the sensitivity of inflation to Planck-scale physics, which we argue provides both the primary motivation and the central theoretical challenge for the subject.…
In models of inflation obtained from string compactification, moduli vacuum misalignment leads to an epoch in the post-inflationary history of the universe when the energy density is dominated by cold moduli particles. This effect leads to…
We find a unique way of realizing inflation through cyclic phases in an universe with negative vacuum energy. According to the second law of thermodynamics entropy monotonically increases from cycle to cycle, typically by a constant factor.…
There is increasing evidence from string theory that effective field theories are only reliable over approximately sub-Planckian field excursions. The two most promising effective models for early universe cosmology, inflation and…
We study the possibility that the axion Peccei-Quinn symmetry is spontaneously broken after the beginning of inflation. This scenario interpolates between pre-inflationary and post-inflationary axion cosmology with significant…
Overall, brane inflation is compatible with the recent analysis of the WMAP data. Here we explore the constraints of WMAP and 2dFGRS data on the various brane inflationary scenarios. Brane inflation naturally ends with the production of…
The dynamics of hybrid models is usually approximated by the evolution of a scalar field slowly rolling along a nearly flat valley. Inflation ends with a waterfall phase, due to a tachyonic instability. This final phase is usually assumed…
We consider slow-roll inflation in the context of recently proposed four-dimensional effective gravity induced on the world-volume of a three-brane in five-dimensional Einstein gravity. We find significant modifications of the simplest…
We develop a possible cosmology for a Universe with n additional spatial dimensions of variable scale, and an associated scalar field, the radion, which is distinct from the field responsible for inflation, the inflaton. Based on a…
If the inflationary phase lasted longer than the minimal period, the length scales observed today originate from modes that were smaller than the Planck length during inflation. It was recently argued that this "trans-Planckian problem" can…
We obtain cosmological constraints on models of inflation which exhibit rapid roll solutions. Rapid roll attractors exist for potentials with large mass terms and are thus of interest for inflationary model building within string theory. We…
The slow-roll approximation is the usual starting point to study the constraints imposed on the inflaton potential parameters by the observational data. We show that, for a potential exhibiting at least two extrema and giving rise to a…
We present a general set-up for inflation in string theory where the inflaton field corresponds to Wilson lines in compact space in the presence of magnetic fluxes. T-dualities and limits on the value of the magnetic fluxes relate this…
In the standard cosmological picture the Universe underwent a brief period of near-exponential expansion, known as Inflation. This provides an explanation for structure formation through the amplification of perturbations by the rapid…