149 research outputs found
Cosmological perturbations from inhomogeneous preheating and multi-field trapping
We consider inhomogeneous preheating in a multi-field trapping model. The
curvature perturbation is generated by inhomogeneous preheating which induces
multi-field trapping at the enhanced symmetric point (ESP), and results in
fluctuation in the number of e-foldings. Instead of considering simple
reheating after preheating, we consider a scenario of shoulder inflation
induced by the trapping. The fluctuation in the number of e-foldings is
generated during this weak inflationary period, when the additional light
scalar field is trapped at the local maximum of its potential. The situation
may look similar to locked or thermal inflation or even to hybrid inflation,
but we will show that the present mechanism of generating the curvature
perturbation is very different from these others. Unlike the conventional
trapped inflationary scenario, we do not make the assumption that an ESP
appears at some unstable point on the inflaton potential. This assumption is
crucial in the original scenario, but it is not important in the multi-field
model. We also discuss inhomogeneous preheating at late-time oscillation, in
which the magnitude of the curvature fluctuation can be enhanced to accommodate
low inflationary scale.Comment: 18pages, 2 figures, to appear in JHE
Tuned MSSM Higgses as an inflaton
We consider the possibility that the vacuum energy density of the MSSM
(Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model) flat direction condensate involving the
Higgses H_1 and H_2 is responsible for inflation. We also discuss how the
finely tuned Higgs potential at high vacuum expectation values can realize {\it
cosmologically} flat direction along which it can generate the observed density
perturbations, and after the end of inflation -- the coherent oscillations of
the Higgses reheat the universe with all the observed degrees of freedom,
without causing any problem for the electroweak phase transition.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Hybrid Curvatons from Broken Symmetry
We present a new general mechanism for generating curvature perturbations
after inflation. Our model is based on the simple assumption that a field that
starts to oscillate after inflation has a potential characterized by an
underlying global symmetry that is slightly or badly broken. Inhomogeneous
preheating occurs due to the oscillation with the broken symmetry. Unlike the
traditional curvaton model, we will not identify the curvaton with the
oscillating field. The curvaton is identified with the preheat field that could
be either a scalar, vector, or fermionic field. We introduce an explicit mass
term for the curvaton, which is important for later evolution and the decay.
Our present model represents the simplest example of the hybrid of the
curvatons and inhomogeneous preheating.Comment: 21pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in JHE
Inflection point inflation: WMAP constraints and a solution to the fine-tuning problem
We consider observational constraints and fine-tuning issues in a
renormalizable model of inflection point inflation, with two independent
parameters. We derive constraints on the parameter space of this model arising
from the WMAP 7-year power spectrum. It has previously been shown that it is
possible to successfully embed this potential in the MSSM. Unfortunately, to do
this requires severe fine-tuning. We address this issue by introducing a hybrid
field to dynamically uplift the potential with a subsequent smooth phase
transition to end inflation at the necessary point. Large parameter regions
exist where this drastically reduces the fine-tuning required without ruining
the viability of the model. A side effect of this mechanism is that it
increases the width of the slow-roll region of the potential, thus also
alleviating the problem of the fine-tuning of initial conditions. The MSSM
embedding we study has been previously shown to be able to explain the
smallness of the neutrino masses. The hybrid transition does not spoil this
feature as there exist parameter regions where the fine-tuning parameter is as
large as and the neutrino masses remain small.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, JCAP style. Version accepted for publication in
JCAP. Modifications made to improve readability, as requested by the referee;
results and conclusions unchanged. References update
Inflection Point Inflation and Time Dependent Potentials in String Theory
We consider models of inflection point inflation. The main drawback of such
models is that they suffer from the overshoot problem. Namely the initial
condition should be fine tuned to be near the inflection point for the universe
to inflate. We show that stringy realizations of inflection point inflation are
common and offer a natural resolution to the overshoot problem.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, refs. adde
Inflection point inflation within supersymmetry
We propose to address the fine tuning problem of inflection point inflation
by the addition of extra vacuum energy that is present during inflation but
disappears afterwards. We show that in such a case, the required amount of fine
tuning is greatly reduced. We suggest that the extra vacuum energy can be
associated with an earlier phase transition and provide a simple model, based
on extending the SM gauge group to SU(3)_C \times SU(2)_L\times U(1)_Y\times
U(1)_{B-L}, where the Higgs field of U(1)_{B-L} is in a false vacuum during
inflation. In this case, there is virtually no fine tuning of the soft SUSY
breaking parameters of the flat direction which serves as the inflaton.
However, the absence of radiative corrections which would spoil the flatness of
the inflaton potential requires that the U(1)_{B-L} gauge coupling should be
small with g_{B-L}\leq 10^{-4}.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur
Parameterizing scalar-tensor theories for cosmological probes
We study the evolution of density perturbations for a class of models
which closely mimic CDM background cosmology. Using the quasi-static
approximation, and the fact that these models are equivalent to scalar-tensor
gravity, we write the modified Friedmann and cosmological perturbation
equations in terms of the mass of the scalar field. Using the perturbation
equations, we then derive an analytic expression for the growth parameter
in terms of , and use our result to reconstruct the linear matter
power spectrum. We find that the power spectrum at is characterized
by a tilt relative to its General Relativistic form, with increased power on
small scales. We discuss how one has to modify the standard, constant
prescription in order to study structure formation for this class of models.
Since is now scale and time dependent, both the amplitude and transfer
function associated with the linear matter power spectrum will be modified. We
suggest a simple parameterization for the mass of the scalar field, which
allows us to calculate the matter power spectrum for a broad class of
models
Tachyon warm inflationary universe model in the weak dissipative regime
Warm inflationary universe model in a tachyon field theory is studied in the
weak dissipative regime. We develop our model for an exponential potential and
the dissipation parameter =constant. We describe scalar and
tensor perturbations for this scenario.Comment: 9 pages, accepted by European Physical Journal
Volume modulus inflection point inflation and the gravitino mass problem
Several models of inflection point inflation with the volume modulus as the
inflaton are investigated. Non-perturbative superpotentials containing two
gaugino condensation terms or one such term with threshold corrections are
considered. It is shown that the gravitino mass may be much smaller than the
Hubble scale during inflation if at least one of the non-perturbative terms has
a positive exponent. Higher order corrections to the Kahler potential have to
be taken into account in such models. Those corrections are used to stabilize
the potential in the axion direction in the vicinity of the inflection point.
Models with only negative exponents require uplifting and in consequence have
the supersymmetry breaking scale higher than the inflation scale. Fine-tuning
of parameters and initial conditions is analyzed in some detail for both types
of models. It is found that fine-tuning of parameters in models with heavy
gravitino is much stronger than in models with light gravitino. It is shown
that recently proposed time dependent potentials can provide a solution to the
problem of the initial conditions only in models with heavy gravitino. Such
potentials can not be used to relax fine tuning of parameters in any model
because this would lead to values of the spectral index well outside the
experimental bounds.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, comments and references added, version to be
publishe
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