No Arabic abstract
We discuss a new inflationary scenario which is realized within the extended supersymmetric Pati-Salam model which yields an acceptable b-quark mass for universal boundary conditions and mu>0 by modestly violating Yukawa unification and leads to new shifted, new smooth, or standard-smooth hybrid inflation. Inflation takes place along a semi-shifted classically flat direction on which the U(1)_{B-L} gauge group remains unbroken. After the end of inflation, U(1)_{B-L} breaks spontaneously and a network of local cosmic strings, which contribute a small amount to the curvature perturbation, is produced. We show that, in minimal supergravity, this semi-shifted inflationary scenario is compatible with a recent fit to data which uses field-theory simulations of a local string network. Taking into account the requirement of gauge unification, we find that, for spectral index n_s=1, the predicted fractional contribution f_{10} of strings to the temperature power spectrum at multipole l=10 is about 0.039. Also, for f_{10}=0.10, which is the best-fit value, we obtain that n_s is about 1.0254. Spectral indices lower than about 0.98 are excluded and blue spectra are slightly favored. Magnetic monopoles are not formed at the end of semi-shifted hybrid inflation.
In this paper we present a novel formulation of chaotic hybrid inflation in supergravity. The model includes a waterfall field which spontaneously breaks a gauged $U_1(B-L)$ at a GUT scale. This allows for the possibility of future model building which includes the standard formulation of baryogenesis via leptogenesis with the waterfall field decaying into right-handed neutrinos. We have not considered the following issues in this short paper, i.e. supersymmetry breaking, dark matter or the gravitino or moduli problems. Our focus is on showing the compatibility of the present model with Planck, WMAP and Bicep2 data.
Global topological defects may account for the large cold spot observed in the Cosmic Microwave Background. We explore possibilities of constructing models of supersymmetric F-term hybrid inflation, where the waterfall fields are globally SU(2)-symmetric. In contrast to the case where SU(2) is gauged, there arise Goldstone bosons and additional moduli, which are lifted only by masses of soft-supersymmetry breaking scale. The model predicts the existence of global textures, which can become semi-local strings if the waterfall fields are gauged under U(1)_X. Gravitino overproduction can be avoided if reheating proceeds via the light SU(2)-modes or right-handed sneutrinos. For values of the inflaton- waterfall coupling >=10^-4, the symmetry breaking scale imposed by normalisation of the power spectrum generated from inflation coincides with the energy scale required to explain the most prominent of the cold spots. In this case, the spectrum of density fluctuations is close to scale-invariant which can be reconciled with measurements of the power spectrum by the inclusion of the sub-dominant component due to the topological defects.
We investigate supersymmetric hybrid inflation in a realistic model based on the gauge symmetry $SU(4)_c times SU(2)_L times SU(2)_R$. The minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) $mu$ term arises, following Dvali, Lazarides, and Shafi, from the coupling of the MSSM electroweak doublets to a gauge singlet superfield which plays an essential role in inflation. The primordial monopoles are inflated away by arranging that the $SU(4)_c times SU(2)_L times SU(2)_R$ symmetry is broken along the inflationary trajectory. The interplay between the (above) $mu$ coupling, the gravitino mass, and the reheating following inflation is discussed in detail. We explore regions of the parameter space that yield gravitino dark matter and observable gravity waves with the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r sim 10^{-4}-10^{-3}$.
We present a successful realization of sneutrino tribrid inflation model based on a gauged $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM). A single interaction term involving the $B-L$ Higgs field and the right-handed neutrinos serves multiple purposes. These include the generation of heavy Majorana masses for the right-handed neutrinos to provide an explanation for the tiny neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism, a realistic scenario for reheating and non-thermal leptogenesis with a reheat temperature as low as $10^6$ GeV, and a successful realization of inflation with right-handed sneutrino as the inflaton. The matter parity which helps avoid rapid proton decay survives as a $Z_{2}$ subgroup of a $U(1)$ $R$-symmetry. Depending on the choice of model parameters yields the following predicted range of the tensor to scalar ratio, $3 times 10^{-11}lesssim rlesssim 7times 10^{-4}$ ($ 6 times 10^{-7} lesssim r lesssim 0.01 $), and the running of the scalar spectral index, $-0.00022 lesssim dn_s/dln k lesssim -0.0026$ ($-0.00014 lesssim dn_s/dln k lesssim 0.005$), along with the $B-L$ breaking scale, $ 3 times 10^{14}lesssim M/ text{GeV}lesssim 5 times 10^{15}$ ($ 6 times 10^{15}lesssim M/ text{GeV}lesssim 2 times 10^{16}$), calculated at the central value of the scalar spectral index, $n_s =0.966$, reported by Planck 2018. The possibility of realizing metastable cosmic strings in a grand unified theory setup is briefly discussed. The metastable cosmic string network admits string tension values in the range $10^{-8} lesssim Gmu_s lesssim 10^{-6}$, and predicts a stochastic gravitational wave background lying within the 2-$sigma$ bounds of the recent NANOGrav 12.5-yr data.
Recent BICEP2 detection of low-multipole B-mode polarization anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation supports the inflationary universe scenario and suggests a large inflaton field range. The latter feature can be achieved with axion fields in the framework of string theory. We present such a helical model which naturally becomes a model with a single cosine potential, and which in turn reduces to the (quadratic) chaotic inflation model in the super-Planckian limit. The slightly smaller tensor/scalar ratio $r$ of models of this type provides a signature of the periodic nature of an axion potential. We present a simple way to quantify this distinctive feature. As axions are intimately related to strings/vortices and strings are ubiquitous in string theory, we explore the possibility that cosmic strings may be contributing to the B-mode polarization anisotropy observed.