Aspects of warm-flat directions

Considering the mechanism of dissipative slow-roll that has been used in warm inflation scenario, we show that dissipation may alter usual cosmological scenarios associated with SUSY-flat directions. We mainly consider SUSY-flat directions that have strong interactions with non-flat directions and may cause strong dissipation both in thermal and non-thermal backgrounds. An example is the Affleck-Dine mechanism in which dissipation may create significant (both qualitative and quantitative) discrepancies between the conventional scenario and the dissipative one. We also discuss several mechanisms of generating curvature perturbations in which the dissipative field, which is distinguished from the inflaton field, can be used as the source of cosmological perturbations. Considering the Morikawa-Sasaki dissipative coefficient, the damping caused by the dissipation may be significant for many MSSM flat directions even if the dissipation is far from thermal equilibrium.Comment: 22 pages, accepted for publication in International Journal of Modern Physics

Entropy production and curvature perturbation from dissipative curvatons

Considering the curvaton field that follows dissipative slow-roll equation, we show that the field can lead to entropy production and generation of curvature perturbation after reheating. Spectral index is calculated to discriminate warm and thermal scenarios of dissipative curvatons from the standard curvaton model. In contrast to the original curvaton model, quadratic potential is not needed in the dissipative scenario, since the growth in the oscillating period is not essential for the model.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in JCA

Brane inflation without slow-roll

The scenario of brane inflation without using the conventional slow-roll approximations has been investigated. Based on the mechanism of generating the curvature perturbations at the end of inflation, a new brane inflation paradigm was developed. The conditions for making a sufficiently large enough number of e-foldings and for generating the curvature perturbations without producing dangerous relics were also examined. Benefits of our scenario are subsequently discussed in detail.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, added an appendix, accepted for publication in JHE

String production after angled brane inflation

We describe string production after angled brane inflation. First, we point out that there was a discrepancy in previous discussions. The expected tension of the cosmic string calculated from the four-dimensional effective Lagrangian did not match the one obtained in the brane analysis. In the previous analysis, the cosmic string is assumed to correspond to the lower-dimensional daughter brane, which wraps the same compactified space as the original mother brane. In this case, however, the tension of the daughter brane cannot depend on the angle (\theta). On the other hand, from the analysis of the effective Lagrangian for tachyon condensation, it is easy to see that the tension of the cosmic string must be proportional to \theta, when \theta << 1. This is an obvious discrepancy that must be explained by consideration of the explicit brane dynamics. In this paper, we will solve this problem by introducing a simple idea. We calculate the tension of the string in the two cases, which matches precisely. The cosmological constraint for angled inflation is relaxed, because the expected tension of the cosmic string becomes smaller than the one obtained in previous arguments, by a factor of \theta.Comment: 13pages, 3 figures, typos correcte

Q ball inflation

We show that inflation can occur in the core of a Q-ball.Comment: 11 pages, latex2e, no figure, references added, final version to appear in PR

Curvaton paradigm can accommodate multiple low inflation scales

Recent arguments show that some curvaton field may generate the cosmological curvature perturbation. As the curvaton is independent of the inflaton field, there is a hope that the fine-tunings of inflation models can be cured by the curvaton scenario. More recently, however, D.H.Lyth discussed that there is a strong bound for the Hubble parameter during inflation even if one assumes the curvaton scenario. Although the most serious constraint was evaded, the bound seems rather crucial for many models of a low inflation scale. In this paper we try to remove this constraint. We show that the bound is drastically modified if there were multiple stages of inflation.Comment: 9pages, no figure, references added, final versio

Elliptic Inflation: Generating the curvature perturbation without slow-roll

There are many inflationary models in which inflaton field does not satisfy the slow-roll condition. However, in such models, it is always difficult to generate the curvature perturbation during inflation. Thus, to generate the curvature perturbation, one must introduce another component to the theory. To cite a case, curvatons may generate dominant part of the curvature perturbation after inflation. However, we have a question whether it is unrealistic to consider the generation of the curvature perturbation during inflation without slow-roll. Assuming multi-field inflation, we encounter the generation of the curvature perturbation during inflation without slow-roll. The potential along equipotential surface is flat by definition and thus we do not have to worry about symmetry. We also discuss about KKLT models, in which corrections lifting the inflationary direction may not become a serious problem if there is a symmetry enhancement at the tip (not at the moving brane) of the inflationary throat.Comment: 27pages, 8figures, to appear in JCA

Dark matter production from cosmic necklaces

Cosmic strings have gained a great interest, since they are formed in a large class of brane inflationary models. The most interesting story is that cosmic strings in brane models are distinguished in future cosmological observations. If the strings in brane models are branes or superstrings that can move along compactified space, and also if there are degenerated vacua along the compactified space, kinks interpolate between degenerated vacua become ``beads'' on the strings. In this case, strings turn into necklaces. In the case that the compact manifold in not simply connected, a string loop that winds around a nontrivial circle is stable due to the topological reason. Since the existence of the (quasi-)degenerated vacua and the nontrivial circle is a common feature of the brane models, it is important to study cosmological constraints on the cosmic necklaces and the stable winding states. In this paper, we consider dark matter production from loops of the cosmic necklaces. Our result suggests that necklaces can put stringent bound on certain kinds of brane models.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, added many comments and 3 figures, accepted for publication in JCA

Test evaluation of fuel cell catalysts Quarterly report, Aug. 16 - Nov. 15, 1967

Corrosion testing of nickel, cobalt, nickel cobalt alloy, borides, and other fuel cell catalyst samples for activity in oxidation of hydrazin