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Inflationary scenarios motivated by the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) where five scalar fields are non-minimally coupled to gravity are considered. The potential of the model and the function of non-minimal coupling are…
We study inflationary models where the kinetic sector of the theory has a non-linearly realised symmetry which is broken by the inflationary potential. We distinguish between kinetic symmetries which non-linearly realise an internal or…
Inflation and moduli stabilisation mechanisms work well independently, and many string-motivated supergravity models have been proposed for them. However a complete theory will contain both, and there will be (gravitational) interactions…
Chaotic inflation predicts a large gravitational wave signal which can be tested by the upcoming Planck satellite. We discuss a SUGRA implementation of chaotic inflation in the presence of moduli fields, and find that inflation does not…
In the framework of chaotic inflation we study the case of a massive scalar field using a semiclassical approach. We derive the energy density fluctuations in the infrared sector generated by matter field and gauge-invariant metric…
We study the scenario of inflection point inflation where a flat direction of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) is identified with the inflaton. Specifically, we consider in full generality the cases where a MSSM flat…
We study the phenomenon of discrete symmetry breaking during the inflationary epoch, using a model-independent approach based on the effective field theory of inflation. We work in a context where both time reparameterization symmetry and…
We investigate how super-Planckian axions can arise when type IIB 3-form flux is used to restrict a two-axion field space to a one-dimensional winding trajectory. If one does not attempt to address notoriously complicated issues like Kahler…
We present a modular cosmology scenario where the difficulties encountered in conventional modular cosmology are solved in a self-consistent manner, with definite predictions to be tested by observation. Notably, the difficulty of the…
In the modulated reheating scenario, the field that drives inflation has a spatially varying decay rate, and the resulting inhomogeneous reheating process generates adiabatic perturbations. We examine the statistical properties of the…
Two extensions of ideas lying in the basis of the inflationary scenario of the early Universe and their effect on the large scale structure of the present-day Universe are discussed. The first of them is the possibility of fast phase…
Inflation is a promising solution to many problems of the standard Big-Bang cosmology. Nevertheless, inflationary models have proved less compelling. In this chapter, we discuss why supersymmetry has led to more natural models of inflation.…
We consider different cosmological aspects of Heterotic M-theory. In particular we look at the dynamical behaviour of the two relevant moduli in the theory, namely the length of the eleventh segment (pi rho) and the volume of the internal…
In the framework of Supersymmetric Grand Unified Theories (SUSY GUTs), the universe undergoes a cascade of symmetry breakings, during which topological defects can be formed. We address the question of the probability of cosmic string…
Models of chaotic inflation with a fractional power-law potential are not only viable but also testable in the foreseeable future. We show that such models can be realized in simple strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theories. In these…
We study inflection point inflation using Singularity Theory, which relates degenerate critical points of functions to their local behavior. This approach illuminates universal features of small-field models and gives analytic control over…
Thermal inflation, a brief low energy inflation after the primordial inflation, resolves the moduli problem in the context of supersymmetric cosmology. In the thermal inflation scenario, the primordial power spectrum is modestly redshifted…
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…
We show that quantum corrections to the effective potential in supersymmetric hybrid inflation can be calculated all the way from the inflationary period - when the Universe is dominated by a false vacuum energy density - till the fields…
We consider the Standard Models of particle physics and hot big bang cosmology, and review the theoretical and experimental motivations for extending these models to include supersymmetry and inflation. An obvious extension would be to…