Inflationary cosmology in modified gravity theories

We review inflationary cosmology in modified gravity such as $R^2$ gravity with its extensions in order to generalize the Starobinsky inflation model. In particular, we explore inflation realized by three kinds of effects: modification of gravity, the quantum anomaly, and the $R^2$ term in loop quantum cosmology. It is explicitly demonstrated that in these inflationary models, the spectral index of scalar modes of the density perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio can be consistent with the Planck results. Bounce cosmology in $F(R)$ gravity is also explained.Comment: 24 pages, no figure, invited review to appear in Symmetr

Reconstruction of scalar field theories realizing inflation consistent with the Planck and BICEP2 results

We reconstruct scalar field theories to realize inflation compatible with the BICEP2 result as well as the Planck. In particular, we examine the chaotic inflation model, natural (or axion) inflation model, and an inflationary model with a hyperbolic inflaton potential. We perform an explicit approach to find out a scalar field model of inflation in which any observations can be explained in principle.Comment: 7 pages, no figure, version accepted for publication in Physics Letters

One-loop Modified Gravity in de Sitter Universe, Quantum Corrected Inflation, and its Confrontation with the Planck Result

Motivated by issues on inflation, a generalized modified gravity model is investigated, where the model Lagrangian is described by a smooth function $f(R, K, \phi)$ of the Ricci scalar $R$, the kinetic term $K$ of a scalar field $\phi$. In particular, the one-loop effective action in the de Sitter background is examined on-shell as well as off-shell in the Landau gauge. In addition, the on-shell quantum equivalence of $f(R)$ gravity in the Jordan and Einstein frames is explicitly demonstrated. Furthermore, we present applications related to the stability of the de Sitter solutions and the one-loop quantum correction to inflation in quantum-corrected $R^2$ gravity. It is shown that for a certain range of parameters, the spectral index of the curvature perturbations can be consistent with the Planck analysis, but the tensor-to-scalar ratio is smaller than the minimum value within the 1 $\sigma$ error range of the BICEP2 result.Comment: 21 pages, no figure, several references adde