Natural origin of inflation within a class of supersymmetric preon models.

Abstract

The idea that the universe passed through a short inflationary epoch [1] at very early times (≪ 10-5 sec) involving an exponential expansion of the scale factor is most attractive because it resolves at once a number of major puzzles in cosmology. These include: (i) the problem of large-scale isotropy and homogeneity; (ii) the flatness problem; (iii) the monopole problem of grand-unification and (iv) possible domain-wall problem. While the “old” inflationary picture [1] has flaws in details, the “new” inflationary picture [2] stands as a satisfactory scenario. A plausible derivation of this picture from an underlying theory of particle physics seems, however, to be a challenging task still.