Kinetic Inflation Research Articles

Suppression of stimulated Brillouin and Raman scatterings using an alternating frequency laser and transverse magnetic fields

A novel scheme to suppress both stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) and stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) by combining an alternating frequency (AF) laser and a transverse magnetic field is proposed. The AF laser allows the laser frequency to change discretely and alternately over time. The suppression of SBS is significant as long as the AF difference is greater than the linear growth rate of SBS or the alternating time of the laser frequency is shorter than the linear growth time of SBS. However, the AF laser proves ineffective in suppressing SRS, which usually has a much higher linear growth rate than SBS. To remedy that, a transverse magnetic field is included to suppress the SRS instability. The electrons trapped in the electron plasma waves (EPWs) of SRS can be accelerated by the surfatron mechanism in a transverse magnetic field and eventually detrapped. While continuously extracting energy from EPWs, the EPWs are dissipated and the kinetic inflation of SRS is suppressed. The one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation results show that both SBS and SRS can be effectively suppressed by combining the AF laser with a transverse magnetic field with tens of Tesla. The total reflectivity can be dramatically reduced by more than one order of magnitude. These results provide a potential reference for controlling SBS and SRS under the related parameters of inertial confinement fusion.

Constraining barrow entropy-based cosmology with power-law inflation

We study the inflationary era of the Universe in a modified cosmological scenario based on the gravity-thermodynamics conjecture with Barrow entropy instead of the usual Bekenstein–Hawking one. The former arises from the effort to account for quantum gravitational effects on the horizon surface of black holes and, in a broader sense, of the Universe. First, we extract modified Friedmann equations from the first law of thermodynamics applied to the apparent horizon of a Friedmann–Robertson–Walker Universe. Assuming a power-law behavior for the scalar inflaton field, we then investigate how the inflationary dynamics is affected in Barrow cosmological setup. We find that the inflationary era may phenomenologically consist of the slow-roll phase, while Barrow entropy is incompatible with kinetic inflation. By demanding observational consistency of the scalar spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio with recent Planck data, we finally constrain Barrow exponent to Delta lesssim mathcal {O}(10^{-4}), which is the most stringent bound in so-far literature.

Non-linear stimulated Raman back-scattering burst driven by a broadband laser

A new evolution pattern for broadband laser excited stimulated Raman back-scattering (BSRS) in the kinetic regime is proposed by numerical simulations. It is found that the change of coherence of different frequency beamlets will cause the fluctuation of laser intensity, generating an ensemble of random intensity pulses and leading to an intermittent excitation of BSRS. The kinetic inflation and intense amplification of scattered light are observed due to the synergism between these pulses, which cause a burst of instantaneous reflectivity. The synergistic effect is highly bandwidth-dependent. Under the bandwidth similar to the existing broadband laser facilities, these bursts will generate over-expected scattered light and hot electrons. Fortunately, a large bandwidth laser can still inactivate the synergy mechanism and mitigate the scattering effectively. We formulated a theoretical model to predict the inactivate point, and the calculation Δω/ω0=2.57% is in good agreement with the numerical results.

Primordial power spectra from k -inflation with curvature

We investigate the primordial power spectra for general kinetic inflation models that support a period of kinetic dominance in the case of curved universes. We present derivations of the Mukhanov-Sasaki equations with a nonstandard scalar kinetic Lagrangian that manifests itself through the inflationary sound speed ${c}_{s}^{2}$. We extend the analytical approximations exploited in Contaldi et al. [J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2003) 002] and Thavanesan et al. [Phys. Rev. D 103, 023519 (2021)] to general kinetic Lagrangians and show the effect of $k$-inflation on the primordial power spectra for models with curvature. In particular, the interplay between sound speed and curvature results in a natural low wave number cutoff for the power spectra in the case of closed universes. Using the analytical approximation, we further show that a change in the inflationary sound speed between different epochs in the early universe results in nondecaying oscillations in the resultant power spectra for the comoving curvature perturbation.

Noncommutativity, Sáez–Ballester Theory and Kinetic Inflation

This paper presents a noncommutative (NC) version of an extended Sáez–Ballester (SB) theory. Concretely, considering the spatially flat Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) metric, we propose an appropriate dynamical deformation between the conjugate momenta and, applying the Hamiltonian formalism, obtain deformed equations of motion. In our model, the NC parameter appears linearly in the deformed Poisson bracket and the equations of the NC SB cosmology. When it goes to zero, we get the corresponding commutative counterparts. Even by restricting our attention to a particular case, where there is neither an ordinary matter nor a scalar potential, we show that the effects of the noncommutativity provide interesting results: applying numerical endeavors for very small values of the NC parameter, we show that (i) at the early times of the universe, there is an inflationary phase with a graceful exit, for which the relevant nominal condition is satisfied; (ii) for the late times, there is a zero acceleration epoch. By establishing an appropriate dynamical framework, we show that the results (i) and (ii) can be obtained for many sets of the initial conditions and the parameters of the model. Finally, we indicate that, at the level of the field equations, one may find a close resemblance between our NC model and the Starobinsky inflationary model.

The inflationary era of the universe via Tsallis cosmology

In this paper, using the first law of thermodynamics (FLT), we derive a modification of the Friedmann equation from the nonadditive Tsallis entropy associated with the apparent horizon of the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) Universe, where matter inside the apparent horizon is represented by a scalar field with a potential. We suggest that the inflationary era of the universe may phenomenologically consist of the two phases. We determined that the first phase is an inflate under the slow-roll condition known as exponential accelerated expansion, and the second one is an expansion phase containing the kinetic term of the scalar field, leading to a quintessential era. After expressing the observable inflation indices for both phases in terms of e-foldings number with choosing power-law scalar potential, we have compared the results with the latest Planck observation data. With some restrictions on the nonadditive Tsallis parameter and power-term of the potential, we observe that inflation can occur with the two phases. It is determined that while the nonadditive Tsallis parameter is positive in the slow-roll phase, it takes negative values in the kinetic energy dominating phase. Nonetheless, for the apparent horizon of the universe, an increasing entropy exists in the first phase, while a decrease in entropy is observed for the second phase, which indicates that the universe is ready for the creation of matter. In addition, a correlation between slow-roll and kinetic inflation is shown by determining the kinetic energy-potential relationship via the exponential term of the potential.

Preheating from target space curvature and unitarity violation: Analysis in field space

We study particle production and unitarity violation caused by a curved target space right after inflation. We use the inflaton field value instead of cosmic time as the time variable, and derive a semiclassical formula for the spectrum of produced particles. We then derive a simple condition for unitarity violation during preheating, which we confirm by our semiclassical method and numerical solution. This condition depends not only on the target space curvature but also on the height of the inflaton potential at the end of inflation. This condition tells us, for instance, that unitarity is violated in running kinetic inflation and Higgs inflation, while unitarity is conserved in $\alpha$-attractor inflation and Higgs-Palatini inflation.

Suppressing the enhancement of stimulated Raman scattering in inhomogeneous plasmas by tuning the modulation frequency of a broadband laser

The stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) instability can inhibit the performance of laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions by scattering light into unwanted directions or by generating hot electrons that preheat the target fuel. In principle, ICF target designs can avoid parameter regimes conducive to large, linear SRS gains. In practice, kinetic inflation—the nonlinear enhancement of SRS due to electron trapping in the excited plasma wave—makes this difficult. Here, we show that laser bandwidth in the form of frequency modulation can either decrease or increase the inflationary SRS (iSRS) threshold in inhomogeneous plasmas depending on the maximum chirp of the laser pulse. The threshold, mapped out by a series of particle-in-cell simulations, exhibits a minimum when the frequency change within the pulse cancels the spatial detuning due to density inhomogeneities along the trajectory of the scattered light. By tuning the pump laser parameters away from this minimum, the iSRS threshold can be larger than at zero bandwidth, providing a path to mitigating kinetic inflation in ignition relevant plasmas.

Kinetic inflation in deformed phase space Brans–Dicke cosmology

In this paper, by establishing a Brans-Dicke (BD) cosmology by means of a deformed phase space, in the absence of any scalar potential, cosmological constant and ordinary matter, we show that it is feasible to overcome obstacles reported in the corresponding commutative (non-deformed) frameworks. More concretely, by applying the Hamiltonian formalism and introducing a dynamical deformation, between the momenta associated to the FLRW scale factor and the BD scalar field, we obtain the modified equations of motion. In particular, these equations reduce to their standard counterparts when the noncommutative (NC) parameter is switched off. By focusing on a specific branch of solutions, in contrast to standard frameworks (even with a varying BD coupling parameter), we show that we can obtain an adequate appropriate inflationary epoch possessing a suitable graceful exit. In other words, in the Jordan frame (JF), such branch of solutions properly satisfy the sufficient condition required for satisfactory inflation, which is equivalent to get an inflationary phase in the conformal Einstein frame (EF) without branch change. Concerning the cosmological dynamics, we further show that our NC framework bears close resemblance to the $R^2$ (Starobinsky) inflationary model.

Mitigation of stimulated Raman scattering in the kinetic regime by external magnetic fields

We show via particle-in-cell simulations that small normalized magnetic fields ($\omega_c/\omega_p \ll 1$) applied perpendicularly to a light wave can significantly modify the evolution of backward stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in the kinetic regime. The presence of the magnetic field increases the threshold for kinetic inflation and decreases the amount of reflectivity when SRS is driven significantly above threshold. Analysis indicates this arises because trapped electrons are accelerated as they surf across the wave, leading to the continual dissipation of the electron plasma waves over a wider range of wave amplitudes. The simulation parameters are directly relevant for SRS in inertial confinement fusion devices and indicate that approximately 30 Tesla magnetic fields might significantly reduce SRS backscatter.

Inflationary universe in deformed phase space scenario

We consider a noncommutative (NC) inflationary model with a homogeneous scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. The particular NC inflationary setting herein proposed, produces entirely new consequences as summarized in what follows. We first analyze the free field case and subsequently examine the situation where the scalar field is subjected to a polynomial and exponential potentials. We propose to use a canonical deformation between momenta, in a spatially flat Friedmann–Lemaî tre–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) universe, and while the Friedmann equation (Hamiltonian constraint) remains unaffected the Friedmann acceleration equation (and thus the Klein–Gordon equation) is modified by an extra term linear in the NC parameter. This concrete noncommutativity on the momenta allows interesting dynamics that other NC models seem not to allow. Let us be more precise. This extra term behaves as the sole explicit pressure that under the right circumstances implies a period of accelerated expansion of the universe. We find that in the absence of the scalar field potential, and in contrast with the commutative case, in which the scale factor always decelerates, we obtain an inflationary phase for small negative values of the NC parameter. Subsequently, the period of accelerated expansion is smoothly replaced by an appropriate deceleration phase providing an interesting model regarding the graceful exit problem in inflationary models. This last property is present either in the free field case or under the influence of the scalar field potentials considered here. Moreover, in the case of the free scalar field, we show that not only the horizon problem is solved but also there is some resemblance between the evolution equation of the scale factor associated to our model and that for the R2 (Starobinsky) inflationary model. Therefore, our herein NC model not only can be taken as an appropriate scenario to get a successful kinetic inflation, but also is a convenient setting to obtain inflationary universe possessing the graceful exit when scalar field potentials are present.

Transition from convective to absolute Raman instability via the longitudinal relativistic effect by using Vlasov-Maxwell simulations

The longitudinal relativistic effect on stimulated Raman backscattering (SRBS) is investigated by using one-dimensional (1D) Vlasov-Maxwell simulations. Using a short backscattered light seed pulse with a very small amplitude, the linear gain spectra of SRBS in the strongly convective regime is presented by combining the relativistic and non-relativistic 1D Vlasov-Maxwell simulations, which is in agreement with the steady-state linear theory. More interestingly, by considering transition from convective to absolute instability due to electron trapping, we successfully predict the critical duration of the seed which can just trigger the kinetic inflation of the excited SRBS after the seed leaves the simulation box. The critical duration in the relativistic case is much shorter than that in the nonrelativistic case, which indicates that the kinetic inflation more easily occurs in the relativistic case than in the nonrelativistic case. In the weakly convective regime, the transition from convective to absolute instability for SRBS can directly occur in the linear regime due to the longitudinal relativistic modification. For the same pump, our simulations first demonstrate that the SRBS excited by a short and small seed pulse is a convective instability in the nonrelativistic case but becomes an absolute instability due to the decrease of the linear Landau damping from the longitudinal relativistic modification in the relativistic case. In more detail, the growth rate of the backscattered light is also in excellent agreement with theoretical prediction.

Inflection point in running kinetic term inflation

In this work, we calculate the general form of the scalar potential with polynomial superpotential in the framework of running kinetic term inflation, then focus on a polynomial superpotential with two terms and obtain the inflection point inflationary model. We study the inflationary dynamics and show that the predicted value of the scalar spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio can lie within the [Formula: see text] confidence region allowed by the result of Planck 2015.

GRAVITY-DRIVEN ACCELERATION AND KINETIC INFLATION IN NONCOMMUTATIVE BRANS-DICKE SETTING

By assuming the spatially flat~FLRW line-element and employing the Hamiltonian formalism, a noncommutative (NC) setting of the Brans-Dicke (BD) theory is introduced. We investigate gravity-driven acceleration and kinetic inflation in this NC BD cosmology. Despite to the commutative case, in which both the scale factor and BD scalar field are obtained in power-law forms (in terms of the cosmic time), in our herein NC model, we see that the power-law scalar factor is multiplied by a dynamical exponential warp factor. This warp factor depends on not only the NC parameter but also the momentum conjugate associated to the BD scalar field. For very small values of this parameter, we obtain an appropriate inflationary solution, which can overcome the problems within the standard BD cosmology in a more efficient manner. Moreover, we see that a graceful exit from an early acceleration epoch towards a decelerating radiation epoch is provided. For late times, due to the presence of the NC parameter, we obtain a zero acceleration epoch, which can be interpreted as the coarse-grained explanation.

Renormalization group improved Higgs inflation with a running kinetic term

We study a Higgs inflation model with a running kinetic term, taking account of the renormalization group evolution of relevant coupling constants. Specifically we study two types of the running kinetic Higgs inflation, where the inflaton potential is given by the quadratic or linear term potential in a frame where the Higgs field is canonically normalized. We solve the renormalization group equations at two-loop level and calculate the scalar spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio. We find that, even if the renormalization group effects are included, the quadratic inflation is ruled out by the CMB observations, while the linear one is still allowed.

Noncommutative minisuperspace, gravity-driven acceleration, and kinetic inflation

In this paper, we introduce a noncommutative version of the Brans-Dicke (BD) theory and obtain the Hamiltonian equations of motion for a spatially flat Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker universe filled with a perfect fluid. We focus on the case where the scalar potential as well as the ordinary matter sector are absent. Then, we investigate gravity-driven acceleration and kinetic inflation in this noncommutative BD cosmology. In contrast to the commutative case, in which the scale factor and BD scalar field are in a power-law form, in the noncommutative case the power-law scalar factor is multiplied by a dynamical exponential warp factor. This warp factor depends on the noncommutative parameter as well as the momentum conjugate associated to the BD scalar field. We show that the BD scalar field and the scale factor effectively depend on the noncommutative parameter. For very small values of this parameter, we obtain an appropriate inflationary solution, which can overcome problems within BD standard cosmology in a more efficient manner. Furthermore, a graceful exit from an early acceleration epoch towards a decelerating radiation epoch is provided. For late times, due to the presence of the noncommutative parameter, we obtain a zero acceleration epoch, which can be interpreted as the coarse-grained explanation.

Higgs chaotic inflation and the primordial B-mode polarization discovered by BICEP2

We show that the standard model Higgs field can realize the quadratic chaotic inflation, if the kinetic term is significantly modified at large field values. This is a simple realization of the so-called running kinetic inflation. The point is that the Higgs field respects an approximate shift symmetry at high energy scale. The tensor-to-scalar ratio is predicted to be r≃0.13–0.16, which nicely explains the primordial B-mode polarization, r=0.20−0.05+0.07, recently discovered by the BICEP2 experiment. In particular, allowing small modulations induced by the shift symmetry breaking, the negative running spectral index can also be induced. The reheating temperature is expected to be so high that successful thermal leptogenesis is possible. The suppressed quartic coupling of the Higgs field at high energy scales may be related to the Higgs chaotic inflation.

Cosmology with nonminimal kinetic coupling and a power-law potential

We consider cosmological dynamics in the theory of gravity with the scalar field possessing a nonminimal kinetic coupling to gravity, $\kappa G_{\mu\nu}\phi^{\mu}\phi^{\nu}$, and the power-law potential $V(\phi)=V_0\phi^N$. Using the dynamical system method, we analyze all possible asymptotical regimes of the model under investigation and show that for sloping potentials with $0<N<2$ there exists a quasi-de Sitter asymptotic $H={1}/{\sqrt{9\kappa}}$ corresponding to an early inflationary Universe. In contrast to the standard inflationary scenario, the kinetic coupling inflation does not depend on a scalar field potential and is only determined by the coupling parameter $\kappa$. We obtain that there exist two different late-time asymptotical regimes. The first one leads to the usual power-like cosmological evolution with $H=1/3t$, while the second one represents the late-time inflationary Universe with $H=1/\sqrt{3\kappa}$. This secondary inflationary phase depends only on $\kappa$ and is a specific feature of the model with nonminimal kinetic coupling. Additionally, an asymptotical analysis shows that for the quadric potential with N=2 the asymptotical regimes remain qualitatively the same, while the kinetic coupling inflation is impossible for steep potentials with N>2. Using a numerical analysis, we also construct exact cosmological solutions and find initial conditions leading to the initial kinetic coupling inflation followed either by a "graceful" oscillatory exit or by the secondary inflation.

Convective Raman amplification of light pulses causing kinetic inflation in inertial fusion plasmas

We perform 1D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations using OSIRIS, which model a short-duration (∼500ω0−1 FWHM) scattered light seed pulse in the presence of a constant counter-propagating pump laser with an intensity far below the absolute instability threshold. The seed undergoes linear convective Raman amplification and dominates over fluctuations due to particle discreteness. Our simulation results are in good agreement with results from a coupled-mode solver when we take into account special relativity and the use of finite size PIC simulation particles. We present linear gain spectra including both effects. Extending the PIC simulations past when the seed exits the simulation domain reveals bursts of large-amplitude scattering in many cases, which does not occur in simulations without the seed pulse. These bursts can have amplitudes several times greater than the amplified seed pulse, and we demonstrate that this large-amplitude scattering is the result of kinetic inflation by examining trapped particle orbits. This large-amplitude scattering is caused by the seed modifying the distribution function earlier in the simulation. We perform some simulations with longer duration seeds, which lead to parts of the seeds undergoing kinetic inflation and reaching amplitudes several times more than the steady-state linear theory results. Simulations with continuous seeds demonstrate that the onset of inflation depends on seed wavelength and incident intensity, and we observe oscillations in the reflectivity at a frequency equal to the difference between the seed frequency and the frequency at which the inflationary stimulated Raman scattering grows.

A note on the role of the boundary terms for the non-Gaussianity in general k-inflation

In this short note we clarify the role of the boundary terms in the calculation of the leading order tree-level bispectrum in a fairly general minimally coupled single field inflationary model, where the inflaton's Lagrangian is a general function of the scalar field and its first derivatives. This includes k-inflation, DBI-inflation and standard kinetic term inflation as particular cases.These boundary terms appear when simplifying the third order action by using integrations by parts. We perform the calculation in the comoving gauge obtaining explicitly all total time derivative interactions and show that a priori they cannot be neglected. The final result for the bispectrum is equal to the result present in the literature which was obtained using the field redefinition.