No Arabic abstract
We consider primordial perturbations from general two-field inflation in interaction picture. We verify that normalized to the single-field case, the power spectrum of scalar perturbations in the two-field version is identical beyond any slow roll approximation, except with different scalar spectral index. We then report that the two bispectrums also coincide at the leading order of slow roll parameters, which divide only at the next-leading order. Combing the scalar spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, we finally show that two-field chaotic and natural inflation can be distinguished by current BK14/Planck and future CMB-S4 experiment respectively.
Primordial blackholes formed in the early Universe via gravitational collapse of over-dense regions may contribute a significant amount to the present dark matter relic density. Inflation provides a natural framework for the production mechanism of primordial blackholes. For example, single field inflation models with a fine-tuned scalar potential may exhibit a period of ultra-slow-roll, during which the curvature perturbation may be enhanced to become seeds of the primordial blackholes formed as the corresponding scales reenter the horizon. In this work we propose an alternative mechanism for the primordial blackhole formation. We consider a model in which a scalar field is coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term, and show that primordial blackholes may be seeded when a scalar potential term and the Gauss-Bonnet coupling term are nearly balanced. Large curvature perturbation in this model not only leads to the production of primordial blackholes but it also sources gravitational waves at the second order. We calculate the present density parameter of the gravitational waves and discuss the detectability of the signals by comparing them with sensitivity bounds of future gravitational wave experiments.
We estimate large-scale curvature perturbations from isocurvature fluctuations in the waterfall field during hybrid inflation, in addition to the usual inflaton field perturbations. The tachyonic instability at the end of inflation leads to an explosive growth of super-Hubble scale perturbations, but they retain the steep blue spectrum characteristic of vacuum fluctuations in a massive field during inflation. The power spectrum thus peaks around the Hubble-horizon scale at the end of inflation. We extend the usual delta-N formalism to include the essential role of these small fluctuations when estimating the large-scale curvature perturbation. The resulting curvature perturbation due to fluctuations in the waterfall field is second-order and the spectrum is expected to be of order 10^{-54} on cosmological scales.
We examine the covariant properties of generalized models of two-field inflation, with non-canonical kinetic terms and a possibly non-trivial field metric. We demonstrate that kinetic-term derivatives and covariant field derivatives do commute in a proper covariant framework, which was not realized before in the literature. We also define a set of generalized slow-roll parameters, using a unified notation. Within this framework, we study the most general class of models that allows for well-defined adiabatic and entropic sound speeds, which we identify as the models with parallel momentum and field velocity vectors. For these models we write the exact cubic action in terms of the adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations. We thus provide the tool to calculate the exact non-Gaussianity beyond slow-roll and at any scale for these generalized models. We illustrate our general results by considering their long-wavelength limit, as well as with the example of two-field DBI inflation.
These notes present a detailed introduction to Maldacenas calculation of the three-point function generated by the simplest class of inflationary models: those with a single inflaton field whose potential satisfies the slow-roll conditions and whose quantum fluctuations start in the asymptotic Bunch-Davies vacuum state. The three-point function should be the most readily observed evidence for non-Gaussianities amongst the primordial fluctuations produced by inflation. In these inflationary theories the non-Gaussianities are predicted to be extremely small, being naturally suppressed by the small slow-roll parameters.
The observational signatures of multi-field inflation will generally evolve as the Universe reheats. We introduce a general analytic formalism for tracking this evolution through perturbative reheating, applicable to two field models with arbitrary separable potentials. The various transitions, including the onset of scalar field oscillations and the reheating of each field, can happen in different orders and on arbitrary hypersurfaces. The effective equations of state of the oscillating fields are also arbitrary. Nevertheless, our results are surprisingly simple. Our formalism encapsulates and generalises a huge range of previous calculations including two-field inflation, spectator models, the inhomogeneous end of inflation scenario and numerous generalised curvaton scenarios.