112 research outputs found
On the dynamics of a quadratic scalar field potential
We review the attractor properties of the simplest chaotic model of
inflation, in which a minimally coupled scalar field is endowed with a
quadratic scalar potential. The equations of motion in a flat
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe are written as an autonomous system of
equations, and the solutions of physical interest appear as critical points.
This new formalism is then applied to the study of inflation dynamics, in which
we can go beyond the known slow-roll formalism of inflation.Comment: 14 pages, 6 eps figures, matches version to appear in IJMP
Non-gaussianity for a Two Component Hybrid Model of Inflation
We consider a two component hybrid inflation model, in which two fields drive
inflation. Our results show that this model generates an observable
non-gaussian contribution to the curvature spectrum, within the limits allowed
by the recent WMAP year 3 data. We show that if one field has a mass less than
zero, and an initial field value less than 0.06Mpl while the other field has a
mass greater than zero, and initial field value ranging between 0.5Mpl and Mpl
then the non-gaussianity is observable with 1<fnl<1.5, but that fnl becomes
much less than the observable limit should we take both masses to have the same
sign, or if we loosened the constraints on the initial field values.Comment: 10 pages and 5 figures. More extensive analysis of model, which shows
that observable fnl is possibl
Nonlinear curvature perturbations in an exactly soluble model of multi-component slow-roll inflation
Using the nonlinear formalism, we consider a simple exactly
soluble model of multi-component slow-roll inflation in which the nonlinear
curvature perturbation can be evaluated analytically.Comment: 4 pages, no figure, typos corrected, references added, final version
to be published in CQ
Flat Tree-level Inflationary Potentials in Light of CMB and LSS Data
We use cosmic microwave background and large scale structure data to test a
broad and physically well-motivated class of inflationary models: those with
flat tree-level potentials (typical in supersymmetry). The non-trivial features
of the potential arise from radiative corrections which give a simple
logarithmic dependence on the inflaton field, making the models very
predictive. We also consider a modified scenario with new physics beyond a
certain high-energy cut-off showing up as non-renormalizable operators (NRO) in
the inflaton field. We find that both kinds of models fit remarkably well CMB
and LSS data, with very few free parameters. Besides, a large part of these
models naturally predict a reasonable number of e-folds. A robust feature of
these scenarios is the smallness of tensor perturbations (r < 10^{-3}). The NRO
case can give a sizeable running of the spectral index while achieving a
sufficient number of e-folds. We use Bayesian model comparison tools to assess
the relative performance of the models. We believe that these scenarios can be
considered as a standard physical class of inflationary models, on a similar
footing with monomial potentials.Comment: 42 LaTeX pages, 8 figure
Spectrum of Curvature Perturbation of Multi-field Inflation with Small-Field Potential
In this paper, we have studied the spectrum of curvature perturbation of
multi-field inflation with general small-field potential. We assume that the
isocurvature perturbation may be neglected, and by using the Sasaki-Stewart
formalism, we found that the spectrum may be redder or bluer than of its
corresponding single field. The result depends upon the values of fields and
their effective masses at the horizon-crossing time. We discuss the relevant
cases.Comment: 8 pages, no figure, to publish in JCA
Slow roll in simple non-canonical inflation
We consider inflation using a class of non-canonical Lagrangians for which
the modification to the kinetic term depends on the field, but not its
derivatives. We generalize the standard Hubble slow roll expansion to the
non-canonical case and derive expressions for observables in terms of the
generalized slow roll parameters. We apply the general results to the
illustrative case of ``Slinky'' inflation, which has a simple, exactly
solvable, non-canonical representation. However, when transformed into a
canonical basis, Slinky inflation consists of a field oscillating on a
multi-valued potential. We calculate the power spectrum of curvature
perturbations for Slinky inflation directly in the non-canonical basis, and
show that the spectrum is approximately a power law on large scales, with a
``blue'' power spectrum. On small scales, the power spectrum exhibits strong
oscillatory behavior. This is an example of a model in which the widely used
solution of Garriga and Mukhanov gives the wrong answer for the power spectrum.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, four figures. (V2: minor changes to text. Version
submitted to JCAP.
Evolution of fNL to the adiabatic limit
We study inflationary perturbations in multiple-field models, for which zeta
typically evolves until all isocurvature modes decay--the "adiabatic limit". We
use numerical methods to explore the sensitivity of the nonlinear parameter fNL
to the process by which this limit is achieved, finding an appreciable
dependence on model-specific data such as the time at which slow-roll breaks
down or the timescale of reheating. In models with a sum-separable potential
where the isocurvature modes decay before the end of the slow-roll phase we
give an analytic criterion for the asymptotic value of fNL to be large. Other
examples can be constructed using a waterfall field to terminate inflation
while fNL is transiently large, caused by descent from a ridge or convergence
into a valley. We show that these two types of evolution are distinguished by
the sign of the bispectrum, and give approximate expressions for the peak fNL.Comment: v1: 25 pages, plus Appendix and bibliography, 6 figures. v2: minor
edits to match published version in JCA
Fine tuning and the ratio of tensor to scalar density fluctuations from cosmological inflation
The form of the inflationary potential is severely restricted if one requires
that it be natural in the technical sense, i.e. terms of unrelated origin are
not required to be correlated. We determine the constraints on observables that
are implied in such natural inflationary models, in particular on , the
ratio of tensor to scalar perturbations. We find that the naturalness
constraint does not require to be lare enough to be detectable by the
forthcoming searches for B-mode polarisation in CMB maps. We show also that the
value of is a sensitive discriminator between inflationary models.Comment: 8 pages LaTeX; clarifications and a reference added; to appear in
JCA
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