No Arabic abstract
We study tachyon inflation within the large-$N$ formalism, which takes a prescription for the small Hubble flow slow--roll parameter $epsilon_1$ as a function of the large number of $e$-folds $N$. This leads to a classification of models through their behaviour at large $N$. In addition to the perturbative $N$ class, we introduce the polynomial and exponential classes for the $epsilon_1$ parameter. With this formalism we reconstruct a large number of potentials used previously in the literature for Tachyon Inflation. We also obtain new families of potentials form the polynomial class. We characterize the realizations of Tachyon Inflation by computing the usual cosmological observables up to second order in the Hubble flow slow--roll parameters. This allows us to look at observable differences between tachyon and canonical single field inflation. The analysis of observables in light of the Planck 2015 data shows the viability of some of these models, mostly for certain realization of the polynomial and exponential classes.
In the framework of classical scale invariance, we consider quadratic gravity in the Palatini formalism and investigate the inflationary predictions of the theory. Our model corresponds to a two-field scalar-tensor theory, that involves the Higgs field and an extra scalar field stemming from a gauge $U(1)_X$ extension of the Standard Model, which contains an extra gauge boson and three right-handed neutrinos. Both scalar fields couple nonminimally to gravity and induce the Planck scale dynamically, once they develop vacuum expectation values. By means of the Gildener-Weinberg approach, we describe the inflationary dynamics in terms of a single scalar degree of freedom along the flat direction of the tree-level potential. The one-loop effective potential in the Einstein frame exhibits plateaus on both sides of the minimum and thus the model can accommodate both small and large field inflation. The inflationary predictions of the model are found to comply with the latest bounds set by the Planck collaboration for a wide range of parameters and the effect of the quadratic in curvature terms is to reduce the value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio.
We develop a theory of nonlinear cosmological perturbations on superhorizon scales for a multi-component scalar field with a general kinetic term and a general form of the potential in the context of inflationary cosmology. We employ the ADM formalism and the spatial gradient expansion approach, characterised by O(epsilon^2), where epsilon=1/(HL) is a small parameter representing the ratio of the Hubble radius to the characteristic length scale L of perturbations. We provide a formalism to obtain the solution in the multi-field case. This formalism can be applied to the superhorizon evolution of a primordial non-Gaussianity beyond the so-called delta N formalism which is equivalent to O(epsilon^0) of the gradient expansion. In doing so, we also derive fully nonlinear gauge transformation rules valid through O(epsilon^2). These fully nonlinear gauge transformation rules can be used to derive the solution in a desired gauge from the one in a gauge where computations are much simpler. As a demonstration, we consider an analytically solvable model and construct the solution explicitly.
Consistency relations for chaotic inflation with a monomial potential and natural inflation and hilltop inflation are given which involve the scalar spectral index $n_s$, the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and the running of the spectral index $alpha$. The measurement of $alpha$ with $O(10^{-3})$ and the improvement in the measurement of $n_s$ could discriminate monomial model from natural/hilltop inflation models. A consistency region for general large field models is also presented.
We make use of the frame and gauge independent formalism for scalar and tensor cosmological perturbations developed in Ref. [1] to show that the physical cutoff for 2-to-2 tree level scatterings in Higgs inflation is above the Planck scale M_P throughout inflation. More precisely, we found that in the Jordan frame, the physical cutoff scale is $({Lambda}/a)_J gtrsim sqrt{M_P^2+{xi}{phi}^2}$, while in the Einstein frame it is $({Lambda}/a)_J gtrsim M_P$, where $xi$ is the nonminimal coupling and $phi$ denotes the Higgs vev during inflation. The dimensionless ratio of the physical cutoff to the relevant Planck scale is equal to one in both frames, thus demonstrating the physical equivalence of the two frames. Our analysis implies that Higgs inflation is unitary up to the Planck scale, and hence there is no naturalness problem in Higgs inflation. In this paper we only consider the graviton and scalar interactions.
Stochastic inflation is an effective theory describing the super-Hubble, coarse-grained, scalar fields driving inflation, by a set of Langevin equations. We previously highlighted the difficulty of deriving a theory of stochastic inflation that is invariant under field redefinitions, and the link with the ambiguity of discretisation schemes defining stochastic differential equations. In this paper, we solve the issue of these inflationary stochastic anomalies by using the Stratonovich discretisation satisfying general covariance, and identifying that the quantum nature of the fluctuating fields entails the existence of a preferred frame defining independent stochastic noises. Moreover, we derive physically equivalent It^o-Langevin equations that are manifestly covariant and well suited for numerical computations. These equations are formulated in the general context of multifield inflation with curved field space, taking into account the coupling to gravity as well as the full phase space in the Hamiltonian language, but this resolution is also relevant in simpler single-field setups. We also develop a path-integral derivation of these equations, which solves conceptual issues of the heuristic approach made at the level of the classical equations of motion, and allows in principle to compute corrections to the stochastic formalism. Using the Schwinger-Keldysh formalism, we integrate out small-scale fluctuations, derive the influence action that describes their effects on the coarse-grained fields, and show how the resulting coarse-grained effective Hamiltonian action can be interpreted to derive Langevin equations with manifestly real noises. Although the corresponding dynamics is not rigorously Markovian, we show the covariant, phase-space Fokker-Planck equation for the Probability Density Function of fields and momenta when the Markovian approximation is relevant [...]