Gauge-flation Vs Chromo-Natural Inflation

Gauge-flation, non-Abelian gauge field inflation, which was introduced in arXiv:1102.1513 and analyzed more thoroughly in arXiv:1102.1932, is a model of inflation driven by non-Abelian gauge fields minimally coupled to Einstein gravity. In this model certain rotationally invariant combination of gauge fields play the role of inflaton. Recently, the chromo-natural inflation model was proposed arXiv:1202.2366 which besides the non-Abelian gauge fields also involve an axion field. In this short note we show that the model involving axions, indeed allows for various slow-roll trajectories for different values of its parameters: A specific trajectory discussed in arXiv:1202.2366 starts from a "small axion" region, while the trajectory considered in arXiv:1102.1513 corresponds to a "large axion" region.Comment: 4 page, no figure

A new perspective on Gauge-flation

Recently Maleknejad and Sheikh-Jabbari have proposed a new model for inflation with non-Abelian gauge fields (Gauge-flation), and they have studied the model by numerical methods\cite{Sheikh}. In this model, the isotropy of space-time is recovered by suitable combination of gauge configurations, and a scalar field is constructed by gauge field and the scale factor, which produces inflation period. In this work, exact solutions for the scalar field and the Hubble parameter are presented and we provide analytic solutions for the numerical results. We explicitly present Hubble parameter and fields as functions of time and it is also demonstrated that in some conditions they are damped oscillator. Moreover, reheating period in the model is discussed.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures,3 figures and a section added, improved discussio

Production and Backreaction of Fermions from Axion-SU(2)SU(2) Gauge Fields during Inflation

$SU(2)$ gauge fields and axions can have a stable, isotropic and homogeneous configuration during inflation. However, couplings to other matter species lead to particle production, which in turn induces backreaction on and destabilization of the non-abelian and axion background. In this paper, we first study the particle production by a $SU(2)$ gauge field coupled to a massive Dirac doublet. To carry out this calculation we have made two technical improvements compared to what has been done in the literature. First, we apply the anti-symmetrization of the operators to treat particles and anti-particles on equal footing, second, to deal with the UV divergences, we apply instantaneous subtraction. We find that, the backreaction of produced fermions on the $SU(2)$ background is negligible for model parameters of observational interest. Next, we consider production of fermions due to coupling to the axion. The tree-level backreaction on the gauge fields, as well as on the axion, is vanishingly small. We also provide an estimate for the loop effects.Comment: Matches version accepted for publication in PR