Inflation In Supergravity Research Articles

Supermassive gauginos in supergravity inflation with high-scale SUSY breaking

A model of supergravity inflation we recently proposed can produce slow roll inflation and a realistic spectrum of particles even without F-term supersymmetry breaking. Supersymmetry is broken only by a D-term induced by a recently discovered new type of Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) term. Almost all supersymmetric partners of the standard model fields can get masses as high as the inflationary Hubble scale. The exception is gauginos, for which the vanishing of F-terms implies an exact cancellation that keeps their masses exactly zero. To cure this problem without spoiling the simplicity of our model we introduce a new term that further enlarges the space of supergravity effective actions. It is an F-term that, similarly to the new FI term, becomes singular in the supersymmetric limit. We show that this term can produce large gaugino masses without altering the spectrum of other states and without lowering the cutoff of the effecive theory.

Dilaton–Axion modular inflation in supergravity

Dilaton and axion are ubiquitous in extended supergravities and closed superstrings. We propose new models of modular inflation in four-dimensional [Formula: see text] supergravity coupled to the chiral dilaton–axion–goldstino supermultiplet, which fit some necessary conditions of superstring cosmology. The model parameters are tuned to obey precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation. We employ the modular-invariant superpotentials and asymptotically modular-invariant Kähler potentials, and achieve axion stabilization with high-scale supersymmetry breaking.

Kähler correction to F-term inflation in supergravity

Kähler correction to F-term inflation in supergravity

Gravitational Waves and gravitino mass in No-Scale Supergravity inflation with Polonyi term

We study a No-Scale supergravity inflation model which has a non-minimal deformation of the Kähler potential and a Wess-Zumino superpotential extended by the inclusion of a Polonyi mass term. The non-minimal structure of the Kähler potential is responsible for an inflexion point that can lead to the production of gravitational waves at late stages of inflation, while the Polonyi term breaks supersymmetry at the end of inflation, generating a non-vanishing gravitino mass. After a thorough parameter space scan, we identify promising points for gravitational wave production. We then study the resulting gravitational wave energy density for this set of points, and we observe that the gravitational waves should be observable in the next generation of both space-based and ground-based interferometers. Finally, we show how the presence of the Polonyi term can be used to further boost the gravitational wave energy density, which is correlated with the gravitino mass. The code used for the scan and the numerical analysis is provided at https://gitlab.com/miguel.romao/gw-and-m32-no-scale-inflation-polonyi.

Inflection-point sgoldstino inflation in no-scale supergravity

We propose a modification of no-scale supergravity models which incorporates sgoldstino stabilization and supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking with a tunable cosmological constant by introducing a Kähler potential which yields a kinetic pole of order one. The resulting scalar potential may develop an inflection point, close to which an inflationary period can be realized for subplanckian field values consistently with the observational data. For central value of the spectral index ns, the necessary tuning is of the order of 10−6, the tensor-to-scalar ratio r is tiny whereas the running of ns, as, is around −3⋅10−3. Our proposal is compatible with high-scale SUSY and the results of LHC on the Higgs boson mass.

Sharp turns in axion monodromy: primordial black holes and gravitational waves

Large turns in multifield inflation can lead to a very rich phenomenology, but are difficult to realise in supergravity, and typically require large field space curvatures. In this work, we present a mechanism to realise multiple sharp turns, and therefore strong non-geodesic trajectories, from transient violations of slow-roll without the requirement of large field space curvatures in supergravity inflation. Such turning rates can strongly source the adiabatic fluctuations, resulting in an enhanced scalar power spectrum with resonant features and a large peak amplitude. If the growth of the scalar power spectrum at small scales is large enough, primordial black holes can be produced in abundance. These large scalar fluctuations induce a characteristic large spectrum of gravitational waves for a wide range of frequencies, which inherits the resonant features. We illustrate this mechanism in a supergravity model of axion monodromy, which provides the first concrete model to realise such resonant features.The model can sustain inflation for around 60 e-folds, leading to considerable production of very light primordial black holes, and large gravitational wave spectra, which could be detectable by multiple upcoming gravitational wave surveys. For the set of parameter we consider, large oscillations occur at all scales. This represents a challenge for the model at large scales and motivates further investigation to reconcile this class of models with Planck data.

Primordial black holes and gravitational waves from nonminimally coupled supergravity inflation

We study the formation of primordial black holes and the generation of gravitational waves in a class of cosmological models that are direct supersymmetric analogs of the observationally favored nonminimally coupled Higgs inflation model. It is known that this type of model naturally includes multiple scalar fields which may be regarded as the inflaton. For the sake of simplicity we focus on the case where the inflaton field space is two dimensional. We analyze the multifield dynamics and find the region of parameters that gives copious production of primordial black holes that may comprise a significant part of the present dark matter abundance. We also compute the spectrum of the gravitational waves and discuss their detectability by means of future ground-based and space-borne gravitational wave observatories.

Pole inflation and primordial black holes formation in Starobinsky-like supergravity

We extend the Cecotti–Kallosh model of Starobinsky inflation in supergravity by adding a holomorphic function to the superpotential in order to generate a large peak in the power spectrum of scalar (curvature) perturbations. In our approach, the singular non-canonical kinetic terms are largely responsible for inflation (as an attractor solution), whereas the superpotential is engineered to generate a production of PBH. We study the cases with (a) a linear holomorphic function, (b) a quadratic holomorphic function, and (c) an exponential holomorphic function, as regards the dependence of inflation and PBH production upon parameters of those functions and initial conditions, as well as verify viability of inflation with our superpotentials. We find that an efficient production of PBH consistent with cosmic microwave background measurements is only possible in the second (b) case. We calculate the masses of the produced PBH and find that they are below the Hawking (black hole) evaporation limit, so that they cannot be part of the current dark matter in our Universe.

Double-copy towards supergravity inflation with α-attractor models

Key to the simplicity of supergravity α-attractor models of inflation are Volkov-Akulov fermions, often in the form of nilpotent superfields. Here we explore the possibility of using the double-copy to construct theories of Dirac-Born-Infeld-Volkov-Akulov (DBIVA) coupled to supergravity. A color-dual bootstrap admits scattering amplitudes involving pions and vectors through five-point tree-level order by order in mass-dimension, but requires the introduction of a Tr(F3) operator. Gauge theories with this operator were recently found to require a tower of higher-derivative operators to be compatible with the duality between color and kinematics. Adjoint-type double-copy construction at its most conservative seems to require the UV completion of DBIVA + pure Poincaré supergravity scattering amplitudes to a family of theories involving DBIVA-like particles coupled to Weyl-Einstein supergravity. We also point out an alternative solution to color-dual gauged pions that allows adjoint double-copy without a tower of higher derivative corrections but at the cost of exchange symmetry between scalars.

Causality constraints on nonlinear supersymmetry

It is well-known that gravitino propagation in standard supergravities is free of any causality problems. However, two issues related to gravitino propagation were recently uncovered in specific supergravities with nonlinear supersymmetry. One of them concerns potential acausality/superluminality, whereas the second one arises from the vanishing of the sound speed at specific points during inflation. The former is famously related to positivity constraints on specific EFT operators, derived from dispersion relations on the energy-growing part of scattering amplitudes, and indeed we show that subluminality constraints for the gravitino are related via the equivalence theorem to positivity bounds in low-energy goldstino actions. However, the former are stronger, in the sense that they apply to functions of the scalar fields not only in the ground state, but for any field values such as those scanned by time-dependent solutions, unlike bounds derived from 2 → 2 scattering amplitudes in the vacuum. We also argue that nontrivial causality constraints arise only in the case where nonlinear supersymmetry in the matter sector is encoded into superfield constraints which do not seem to arise from microscopic two-derivative lagrangians, in particular for the orthogonal constraint used to build minimal models of inflation in supergravity. This allows us to propose simple alternatives which maintain the minimality of the spectra and are causal in all points of the theory parameter space. We also discuss minimal supergravity models of inflation along these lines.

Gravitino constraints on supergravity inflation

Supergravity embedding of the Standard Model of particle physics provides phenomenologically well-motivated and observationally viable inflationary scenarios. We investigate a class of inflationary models based on the superconformal framework of supergravity and discuss constraints from the reheating temperature, with the particular focus on the gravitino problem inherent in these scenarios. We point out that a large part of the parameter space within the latest BICEP/Keck 95% confidence contour may have been excluded by the gravitino constraints, depending on the mass scale of the inflaton. Precision measurements of the scalar spectral index by a future mission may rule out some of these scenarios conclusively.

Rapid-turn inflation in supergravity is rare and tachyonic

Strongly non-geodesic, or rapidly turning trajectories in multifield inflation have attracted much interest recently from both theoretical and phenomenological perspectives. Most models with large turning rates in the literature are formulated as effective field theories. In this paper we investigate rapid-turn inflation in supergravity as a first step towards understanding them in string theory. We find that large turning rates can be generated in a wide class of models, at the cost of high field space curvature. In these models, while the inflationary trajectories are stable, one Hessian eigenvalue is always tachyonic and large, in Hubble units. Thus, these models satisfy the de Sitter swampland conjecture along the inflationary trajectory. However, the high curvatures underscore the difficulty of obtaining rapid-turn inflation in realistic string-theoretical models.In passing, we revisit the η-problem in multifield slow-roll inflation and show that it does not arise, inasmuch as the inflatons, ϕi , can all be heavier (in absolute value) that the Hubble scale: |mi |/H>1, ∀i.

Inflation and supersymmetry breaking in Higgs-R2 supergravity

We propose a new construction of the supergravity inflation as an UV completion of the Higgs-R2 inflation. In the dual description of R2-supergravity, we show that there appear dual chiral superfields containing the scalaron or sigma field in the Starobinsky inflation, which unitarizes the supersymmetric Higgs inflation with a large non-minimal coupling up to the Planck scale. We find that a successful slow-roll inflation is achievable in the Higgs-sigma field space, but under the condition that higher curvature terms are introduced to cure the tachyonic mass problems for spectator singlet scalar fields. We also discuss supersymmetry breaking and its transmission to the visible sector as a result of the couplings of the dual chiral superfields and the non-minimal gravity coupling of the Higgs fields.

Non-minimal D-term hybrid inflation in supergravity

Non-minimal D-term hybrid inflation in supergravity

Minimal supergravity inflation without slow gravitino

We utilize a recently proposed cubic nilpotent superfield to realize inflation in supergravity with the minimal degrees of freedom: the inflaton, graviton, and massive gravitino. As an advantage, the resultant model is free from the catastrophic production of gravitinos due to its vanishing propagation speed. However, the model suffers from the standard gravitino problem, and its viability depends on the mass spectrum and the thermal history of the universe.

Affleck-Dine inflation in supergravity

Affleck-Dine inflation is a recently proposed model in which a single complex scalar field, nonminimally coupled to gravity, drives inflation and simultaneously generates the baryon asymmetry of universe via Affleck-Dine mechanism. In this paper we investigate the supersymmetric implementation of Affleck-Dine inflation in the use of two chiral superfields with appropriate superpotential and Kähler potential. The scalar potential has a similar form to the potential of original Affleck-Dine inflation, and it gives successful inflation and baryogenesis. We also consider the isocurvature perturbation evolving after crossing the horizon, and find that it is ignorable and hence consistent with the observations.

A note on supergravity inflation in braneworld

We discuss supergravity inflation in braneworld cosmology for the class of potentials [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text]. These minimal SUGRA models evade the [Formula: see text] problem due to a broken shift symmetry and can easily accommodate the observational constraints. In the high energy regime [Formula: see text], the numerical predictions and approximate analytic formulas are given for the scalar spectral index [Formula: see text] and tensor-to-scalar ratio [Formula: see text]. The models with smaller [Formula: see text] are preferred while the models with larger [Formula: see text] are out of the [Formula: see text] region. Remarkably, the [Formula: see text] correction to the energy density in Friedmann equation results in sub-Planckian inflaton excursions [Formula: see text].

Building models of inflation in no-scale supergravity

After reviewing the motivations for cosmological inflation formulated in the formalism of supersymmetry, we argue that the appropriate framework is that of no-scale supergravity. We then show how to construct within this framework inflationary models whose predictions for the tilt in the spectrum of scalar perturbations, [Formula: see text], and the ratio, [Formula: see text], of tensor and scalar perturbations coincide with those of the [Formula: see text] model of inflation proposed by Starobinsky. A more detailed study of no-scale supergravity reveals a structure that is closely related to that of [Formula: see text] modifications of the minimal Einstein–Hilbert action for general relativity, opening avenues for constructing no-scale de Sitter and anti-de Sitter models by combining pairs of Minkowski models, as well as generalizations of the original no-scale Starobinsky models of inflation. We then discuss the phenomenology of no-scale models of inflation, including inflaton decay and reheating, and then the construction of explicit scenarios based on SU(5), SO(10) and string-motivated flipped SU(5)×U(1) GUT models. The latter provides a possible model of almost everything below the Planck scale, including neutrino masses and oscillations, the cosmological baryon asymmetry and cold dark matter, as well as [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text].

Helical phase inflation and its observational constraints

We consider a class of helical phase inflation models from the N=1 supergravity where the phase component of a complex field acts as an inflaton. This class of models avoids the eta problem in supergravity inflation due to the phase monodromy of the superpotential. We study the inflationary predictions of this class of models in the context of both standard and large extra dimensional brane cosmology, and find that they can easily accommodate the Planck 2018 and BICEP2 constraints. We find that the helical phase inflation has α-attractors and the attractors depend on one model parameter only.

Inflation in Supergravity from Field Redefinitions

Supergravity (SUGRA) theories are specified by a few functions, most notably the real Kähler function denoted by G ( T i , T ¯ i ) = K + log | W | 2 , where K is a real Kähler potential, and W is a holomorphic superpotential. A field redefinition T i → f 1 ( T i ) changes neither the theory nor the Kähler geometry. Similarly, the Kähler transformation, K → K + f 2 + f ¯ 2 , W → e − f 2 W where f 2 is holomorphic and leaves G and hence the theory and the geometry invariant. However, if we perform a field redefinition only in K ( T i , T ¯ i ) → K ( f ( T i ) , f ( T ¯ i ) ) , while keeping the same superpotential W ( T i ) , we get a different theory, as G is not invariant under such a transformation while maintaining the same Kähler geometry. This freedom of choosing f ( T i ) allows construction of an infinite number of new theories given a fixed Kähler geometry and a predetermined superpotential W. Our construction generalizes previous ones that were limited by the holomorphic property of W. In particular, it allows for novel inflationary SUGRA models and particle phenomenology model building, where the different models correspond to different choices of field redefinitions. We demonstrate this possibility by constructing several prototypes of inflationary models (hilltop, Starobinsky-like, plateau, log-squared and bell-curve) all in flat Kähler geometry and an originally renormalizable superpotential W. The models are in accord with current observations and predict r ∈ [ 10 − 6 , 0.06 ] spanning several decades that can be easily obtained. In the bell-curve model, there also exists a built-in gravitational reheating mechanism with T R ∼ O ( 10 7 G e V ) .