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Register a new userViability of slow-roll inflation in light of the non-zero k_min measured in the CMB power spectrum
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Slow-roll inflation may simultaneously solve the horizon problem and generate a near scale-free fluctuation spectrum P(k). These two processes are intimately connected via the initiation and duration of the inflationary phase. But a recent study based on the latest Planck release suggests that P(k) has a hard cutoff, k_min > 0, inconsistent with this conventional picture. Here we demonstrate quantitatively that most---perhaps all---slow-roll inflationary models fail to accommodate this minimum cutoff. We show that the small parameter `epsilon must be > 0.9 throughout the inflationary period to comply with the data, seriously violating the slow-roll approximation. Models with such an epsilon predict extremely red spectral indices, at odds with the measured value. We also consider extensions to the basic picture (suggested by several earlier workers) by adding a kinetic-dominated or radiation-dominated phase preceding the slow-roll expansion. Our approach differs from previously published treatments principally because we require these modifications to---not only fit the measured fluctuation spectrum, but to simultaneously also---fix the horizon problem. We show, however, that even such measures preclude a joint resolution of the horizon problem and the missing correlations at large angles.
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Multiple inflation is a model based on N=1 supergravity wherein there are sudden changes in the mass of the inflaton because it couples to flat direction scalar fields which undergo symmetry breaking phase transitions as the universe cools. The resulting brief violations of slow-roll evolution generate a non-gaussian signal which we find to be oscillatory and yielding f_NL ~ 5-20. This is potentially detectable by e.g. Planck but would require new bispectrum estimators to do so. We also derive a model-independent result relating the period of oscillations of a phase transition during inflation to the period of oscillations in the primordial curvature perturbation generated by the inflaton.
We present a complete formulation of the scalar bispectrum in the unified effective field theory (EFT) of inflation, which includes the Horndeski and beyond-Horndeski Gleyzes-Langlois-Piazza-Vernizzi classes, in terms of a set of simple one-dimensional integrals. These generalized slow-roll expressions remain valid even when slow-roll is transiently violated and encompass all configurations of the bispectrum. We show analytically that our expressions explicitly preserve the squeezed-limit consistency relation beyond slow-roll. As an example application of our results, we compute the scalar bispectrum in a model in which potential-driven G-inflation at early times transitions to chaotic inflation at late times, showing that our expressions accurately track the bispectrum when slow-roll is violated and conventional slow-roll approximations fail.
The possibility that primordial black holes constitute a fraction of dark matter motivates a detailed study of possible mechanisms for their production. Black holes can form by the collapse of primordial curvature fluctuations, if the amplitude of their small scale spectrum gets amplified by several orders of magnitude with respect to CMB scales. Such enhancement can for example occur in single-field inflation that exhibit a transient non-attractor phase: in this work, we make a detailed investigation of the shape of the curvature spectrum in this scenario. We make use of an analytical approach based on a gradient expansion of curvature perturbations, which allows us to follow the changes in slope of the spectrum during its way from large to small scales. After encountering a dip in its amplitude, the spectrum can acquire steep slopes with a spectral index up to $n_s-1,=,8$, to then relax to a more gentle growth with $n_s-1,lesssim,3$ towards its peak, in agreement with the results found in previous literature. For scales following the peak associated with the presence of the non-attractor phase, the spectrum amplitude then mildly decays, during a transitional stage from non-attractor back to attractor evolution. Our analysis indicates that this gradient approach offers a transparent understanding of the contributions controlling the slope of the curvature spectrum. As an application of our findings, we characterise the slope in frequency of a stochastic gravitational wave background generated at second order from curvature fluctuations, using the more accurate information we gained on the shape of curvature power spectrum.
We take a pragmatic, model independent approach to single field slow-roll canonical inflation by imposing conditions, not on the potential, but on the slow-roll parameter $epsilon(phi)$ and its derivatives $epsilon^{prime }(phi)$ and $epsilon^{primeprime }(phi)$, thereby extracting general conditions on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and the running $n_{sk}$ at $phi_{H}$ where the perturbations are produced, some $50$ $-$ $60$ $e$-folds before the end of inflation. We find quite generally that for models where $epsilon(phi)$ develops a maximum, a relatively large $r$ is most likely accompanied by a positive running while a negligible tensor-to-scalar ratio implies negative running. The definitive answer, however, is given in terms of the slow-roll parameter $xi_2(phi)$. To accommodate a large tensor-to-scalar ratio that meets the limiting values allowed by the Planck data, we study a non-monotonic $epsilon(phi)$ decreasing during most part of inflation. Since at $phi_{H}$ the slow-roll parameter $epsilon(phi)$ is increasing, we thus require that $epsilon(phi)$ develops a maximum for $phi > phi_{H}$ after which $epsilon(phi)$ decrease to small values where most $e$-folds are produced. The end of inflation might occur trough a hybrid mechanism and a small field excursion $Deltaphi_eequiv |phi_H-phi_e |$ is obtained with a sufficiently thin profile for $epsilon(phi)$ which, however, should not conflict with the second slow-roll parameter $eta(phi)$. As a consequence of this analysis we find bounds for $Delta phi_e$, $r_H$ and for the scalar spectral index $n_{sH}$. Finally we provide examples where these considerations are explicitly realised.
We numerically calculate the evolution of second order cosmological perturbations for an inflationary scalar field without resorting to the slow-roll approximation or assuming large scales. In contrast to previous approaches we therefore use the full non-slow-roll source term for the second order Klein-Gordon equation which is valid on all scales. The numerical results are consistent with the ones obtained previously where slow-roll is a good approximation. We investigate the effect of localised features in the scalar field potential which break slow-roll for some portion of the evolution. The numerical package solving the second order Klein-Gordon equation has been released under an open source license and is available for download.
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