Reanalyzing the upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rT in a quartic potential inflationary model

Abstract

We study the polynomial chaotic inflation model with a single scalar field in a double well quartic potential which has recently been shown to be consistent with Planck data. In particular, we study the effects of lifting the degeneracy between the two vacua on the inflationary observables, i.e., spectral index ns and tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rT. We find that removing the degeneracy allows the model to satisfy the upper limit constraints on rT from Planck data, provided the field starts near the local maximum. We also calculate the scalar power spectrum and non-Gaussianity parameter fNL for the primordial scalar perturbations in this model