No Arabic abstract
Inflationary models with a superheavy scale F-term hybrid inflation followed by an intermediate scale modular inflation are considered. The restrictions on the power spectrum P_R of curvature perturbation and the spectral index n_s from the recent data within the power-law cosmological model with cold dark matter and a cosmological constant can be met provided that the number of e-foldings N_HI* suffered by the pivot scale k_*=0.002/Mpc during hybrid inflation is suitably restricted. The additional e-foldings needed for solving the horizon and flatness problems are generated by modular inflation with a string axion as inflaton. For central values of P_R and n_s, the grand unification scale comes out, in the case of standard hybrid inflation, close to its supersymmetric value M_GUT=2.86 x 10^16 GeV, the relevant coupling constant is relatively large (0.005-0.14), and N_HI* is between 10 and 21.7. In the shifted [smooth] hybrid inflation case, the grand unification scale can be identified with M_GUT for N_HI*=21 [N_HI*=18].
We consider the extended supersymmetric Pati-Salam model which, for mu>0 and universal boundary conditions, succeeds to yield experimentally acceptable b-quark masses by moderately violating Yukawa unification. It is known that this model can lead to new shifted or new smooth hybrid inflation. We show that a successful two-stage inflationary scenario can be realized within this model based only on renormalizable superpotential interactions. The cosmological scales exit the horizon during the first stage of inflation, which is of the standard hybrid type and takes place along the trivial flat direction with the inflaton driven by radiative corrections. Spectral indices compatible with the recent data can be achieved in global supersymmetry or minimal supergravity by restricting the number of e-foldings of our present horizon during the first inflationary stage. The additional e-foldings needed for solving the horizon and flatness problems are naturally provided by a second stage of inflation, which occurs mainly along the built-in new smooth hybrid inflationary path appearing right after the destabilization of the trivial flat direction at its critical point. Monopoles are formed at the end of the first stage of inflation and are, subsequently, diluted by the second stage of inflation to become utterly negligible in the present universe for almost all (for all) the allowed values of the parameters in the case of global supersymmetry (minimal supergravity).
We consider the extension of the supersymmetric Pati-Salam model which solves the b-quark mass problem of supersymmetric grand unified models with exact Yukawa unification and universal boundary conditions and leads to the so-called new shifted hybrid inflationary scenario. We show that this model can also lead to a new version of smooth hybrid inflation based only on renormalizable interactions provided that a particular parameter of its superpotential is somewhat small. The potential possesses valleys of minima with classical inclination, which can be used as inflationary paths. The model is consistent with the fitting of the three-year Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe data by the standard power-law cosmological model with cold dark matter and a cosmological constant. In particular, the spectral index turns out to be adequately small so that it is compatible with the data. Moreover, the Pati-Salam gauge group is broken to the standard model gauge group during inflation and, thus, no monopoles are formed at the end of inflation. Supergravity corrections based on a non-minimal Kaehler potential with a convenient choice of a sign keep the spectral index comfortably within the allowed range without generating maxima and minima of the potential on the inflationary path. So, unnatural restrictions on the initial conditions for inflation can be avoided.
We present a mechanism for realizing hybrid inflation using two axion fields with a purely non-perturbatively generated scalar potential. The structure of scalar potential is highly constrained by the discrete shift symmetries of the axions. We show that harmonic hybrid inflation generates observationally viable slow-roll inflation for a wide range of initial conditions. This is possible while accommodating certain UV arguments favoring constraints $flesssim M_{rm P}$ and $Deltaphi_{60}lesssim M_{rm P}$ on the axion periodicity and slow-roll field range, respectively. We discuss controlled $mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetry breaking of the adjacent axion vacua as a means of avoiding cosmological domain wall problems. Including a minimal form of $mathbb{Z}_2$-symmetry breaking into the minimally tuned setup leads to a prediction of primordial tensor modes with the tensor-to-scalar ratio in the range $10^{-4}lesssim r lesssim 0.01$, directly accessible to upcoming CMB observations. Finally, we outline several avenues towards realizing harmonic hybrid inflation in type IIB string theory.
We discuss the phenomenological implications of hybrid natural inflation models in which the inflaton is a pseudo-Goldstone boson but inflation is terminated by a second scalar field. A feature of the scheme is that the scale of breaking of the Goldstone symmetry can be lower than the Planck scale and so gravitational corrections are under control. We show that, for supersymmetric models, the scale of inflation can be chosen anywhere between the Lyth upper bound and a value close to the electroweak breaking scale. Unlike previous models of low scale inflation the observed density perturbations and spectral index are readily obtained by the choice of the free parameters.
In hybrid inflation, the inflaton generically has a tadpole due to gravitational effects in supergravity, which significantly changes the inflaton dynamics in high-scale supersymmetry. We point out that the tadpole can be cancelled if there is a supersymmetry breaking singlet with gravitational couplings, and in particular, the cancellation is automatic in no-scale supergravity. We consider the LARGE volume scenario as a concrete example and discuss the compatibility between the hybrid inflation and the moduli stabilization. We also point out that the dark radiation generated by the overall volume modulus decay naturally relaxes a tension between the observed spectral index and the prediction of the hybrid inflation.