Slow-roll inflation in loop quantum cosmology of scalar–tensor theories of gravity

Abstract

The slow-roll inflation of scalar–tensor theories (STTs) of gravity in the context of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is investigated in this paper. After deriving the effective Hamiltonian, we obtain the semiclassical equations of motion for the background variables in both Jordan frame and Einstein frame of STTs. Then we apply these equations in the slow-roll limit and derive the LQC corrections to the scalar spectral index [Formula: see text] and the tensor-to-scalar ratio [Formula: see text] in the two frames of STTs. Finally, we take two special sectors of STTs as specific examples, namely the Starobinsky model and the non-minimally coupled scalar field model (with the coupling function [Formula: see text] and the potential [Formula: see text]). We derive the detailed expressions of the LQC corrections to [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in terms of the [Formula: see text]-folding number for these two models in both frames.