Slow-roll Parameters Research Articles

Remarks on non-Gaussian fluctuations of the inflaton and constancy ofζoutside the horizon

We point out that the non-gaussianity arising from cubic self interactions of the inflaton field is proportional to \xi N_e where \xi ~ V"' and N_e is the number of e-foldings from horizon exit till the end of inflation. For scales of interest N_e = 60, and for models of inflation such as new inflation, natural inflation and running mass inflation \xi is large compared to the slow roll parameter \epsilon ~ V'^{2}. Therefore the contribution from self interactions should not be outrightly ignored while retaining other terms in the non-gaussianity parameter f_{NL}. But the N_e dependent term seems to imply the growth of non-gaussianities outside the horizon. Therefore we briefly discuss the issue of the constancy of correlations of the curvature perturbation \zeta outside the horizon. We then calculate the 3-point function of the inflaton fluctuations using the canonical formalism and further obtain the 3-point function of \zeta_k. We find that the N_e dependent contribution to f_{NL} from self interactions of the inflaton field is cancelled by contributions from other terms associated with non-linearities in cosmological perturbation theory.

Anisotropic inflation from charged scalar fields

We consider models of inflation with U(1) gauge fields and charged scalar fields including symmetry breaking potential, chaotic inflation and hybrid inflation. We show that there exist attractor solutions where the anisotropies produced during inflation becomes comparable to the slow-roll parameters. In the models where the inflaton field is a charged scalar field the gauge field becomes highly oscillatory at the end of inflation ending inflation quickly. Furthermore, in charged hybrid inflation the onset of waterfall phase transition at the end of inflation is affected significantly by the evolution of the background gauge field. Rapid oscillations of the gauge field and its coupling to inflaton can have interesting effects on preheating and non-Gaussianities.

Dynamics of Logamediate and Intermediate Scenarios in the Dark Energy Filled Universe

We have considered a model of two component mixture i.e., mixture of Chaplygin gas and barotropic fluid with tachyonic field. In the case, when they have no interaction then both of them retain their own properties. Let us consider an energy flow between barotropic and tachyonic fluids. In both the cases we find the exact solutions for the tachyonic field and the tachyonic potential and show that the tachyonic potential follows the asymptotic behavior. We have considered an interaction between these two fluids by introducing a coupling term. Finally, we have considered a model of three component mixture i.e., mixture of tachyonic field, Chaplygin gas and barotropic fluid with or without interaction. The coupling functions decays with time indicating a strong energy flow at the initial period and weak stable interaction at later stage. To keep the observational support of recent acceleration we have considered two particular forms (i) Logamediate Scenario and (ii) Intermediate Scenario, of evolution of the Universe. We have examined the natures of the recent developed statefinder parameters and slow-roll parameters in both scenarios with and without interactions in whole evolution of the universe.

Chaplygin gas braneworld inflation according to WMAP7 data

We consider a Chaplygin gas model with an exponential potential in framework of braneworld inflation. We apply the slow-roll approximation in the high-energy limit to derive various inflationary spectrum perturbation parameters. We show that the inflation observables depend only on the e-folding number N and the final value of the slow-roll parameter e(end). Whereas for small running of the scalar spectral index dns/dlnk, the inflation observables are in good agreement with recent WMAP7 data.

Tilt and running of cosmological observables in generalized single-field inflation

Employing an effective field theory approach to inflationary perturbations, we analyze in detail the effect of curvature-generated Lagrangian operators on various observables, focusing on their running with scales. At quadratic order, we solve the equation of motion at next-to-leading leading order in a generalized slow-roll approximation for a very general theory of single-field inflation. We derive the resulting power spectrum, its tilt and running. We then focus on the contribution to the primordial non-Gaussianity amplitude fNL sourced by a specific interaction term. We show that the running of fNL can be substantially larger than what dictated by the slow-roll parameters.

The slow-roll condition and the amplitude of the primordial spectrum of cosmic fluctuations: contrasts and similarities of the standard account and the ‘collapse scheme’

The inflationary paradigm enjoys a very wide acceptance in the cosmological community, due largely to the fact that it is said to ‘naturally account’ for a nearly scale-independent power primordial spectrum of fluctuations which is in very good agreement with the observations. The expected overall scale of the fluctuations in most models turns out to be too large because it is inversely proportional to the slow-roll parameter, which is expected to be very small. This fact requires the fine tuning of the inflaton potential. In series of recent works it has been argued that the success of the inflationary picture is not fully justified in terms of the rules of quantum theory as applied to the cosmological setting and that an extra element, something akin to a self-induced collapse of the wavefunction, is required. There, it was suggested that the incorporation of such a collapse in the treatment might avoid the need for fine tuning of the potential that afflicts most inflationary models. In this paper we will discuss in detail the manner in which one obtains the estimation of the magnitude of the perturbations in the new scheme and that of the standard accounts, comparing one of the most popular among the latter and that corresponding to the new proposal. We will see that the proposal includes a collapse scheme that bypasses the problem, but we will see that the price seems to be a teleological, and thus unphysical, fine tuning of the characteristics of collapse.

Unitarizing Higgs inflation

We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model Higgs inflation with one new real scalar field which preserves unitarity up to the Planck scale. The new scalar field (called sigma) completes in the ultraviolet the theory of Higgs inflation by linearizing the Higgs kinetic term in the Einstein frame, just as the non-linear sigma model is unitarized into its linear version. The unitarity cutoff of the effective theory, obtained by integrating out the sigma field, varies with the background value of the Higgs field. In our setup, both the Higgs field and the sigma field participate in the inflationary dynamics, following the flat direction of the potential. We obtain the same slow-roll parameters and spectral index as in the original Higgs inflation but we find that the Hubble rate during inflation depends not only on the Higgs self-coupling, but also on the unknown couplings of the sigma field.

THE ROLE OF A CHAMELEON FIELD IN AN ANISOTROPIC UNIVERSE WITH LOGAMEDIATE AND INTERMEDIATE SCENARIOS

In this work, we consider the Universe is being filled with matter composed of a chameleon-type dark energy scalar field. Employing a particular form of potential, we discuss the field's role in the accelerating phase of the Universe for an anisotropic model using the logamediate and intermediate forms of scale factors. The natures of statefinder and slow-roll parameters are discussed diagrammatically.

CMB constraints on non-commutative geometry during inflation

We investigate the primordial power spectrum of the density perturbations based on the assumption that spacetime is noncommutative in the early stage of inflation. Due to the spacetime noncommutativity, the primordial power spectrum can lose rotational invariance. Using the k-inflation model and slow-roll approximation, we show that the deviation from rotational invariance of the primordial power spectrum depends on the size of noncommutative length scale L_s but not on sound speed. We constrain the contributions from the spacetime noncommutativity to the covariance matrix for the harmonic coefficients of the CMB anisotropies using five-year WMAP CMB maps. We find that the upper bound for L_s depends on the product of sound speed and slow-roll parameter. Estimating this product using cosmological parameters from the five-year WMAP results, the upper bound for L_s is estimated to be less than 10^{-27} cm at 99.7% confidence level.

Quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum from inflation and curvaton models

We calculate the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum, corresponding to five and six point correlation functions of the curvature perturbation. For single field inflation with standard kinetic term, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are small, which are suppressed by slow roll parameters. The calculation can be generalized to multiple fields. When there is no entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are suppressed as well. With the presence of entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum can get boosted. We illustrate this boost in the multi-brid inflation model. For the curvaton scenario, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are also large in the small r limit. We also calculate representative terms of quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum for inflation with generalized kinetic terms, and estimate their order of magnitude for quasi-single field inflation.

Non-minimal inflation revisited

We reconsider an inflationary model that inflaton field is non-minimally coupled to gravity. We study the parameter space of the model up to the second (and in some cases third) order of the slow-roll parameters. We calculate inflation parameters in both Jordan and Einstein frames, and the results are compared in these two frames and also with observations. Using the recent observational data from combined WMAP5+SDSS+SNIa datasets, we study constraints imposed on our model parameters, especially the non-minimal coupling ξ.

Use of δN formalism—difficulties in generating large local-type non-Gaussianity during inflation

We discuss the generation of non-Gaussianity in density perturbation through the super-horizon evolution during inflation by using the so-called δN formalism. We first provide a general formula for the nonlinearity parameter generated during inflation. We find that it is proportional to the slow-roll parameters, multiplied by the model-dependent factors that may enhance non-Gaussianity to the observable ranges. Then we discuss three typical examples to illustrate how difficult it is to generate sizable non-Gaussianity through the super-horizon evolution during inflation. The first example is the double inflation model, which shows that temporal violation of slow-roll conditions is not enough for the generation of non-Gaussianity. The second example is the ordinary hybrid inflation model, which illustrates the importance of taking into account perturbations on small scales. Finally, we discuss the Kadota–Stewart model. This model gives an example in which we have to choose rather unnatural initial conditions even if large non-Gaussianity can be generated.

A note on perfect scalar fields

We derive a condition on the Lagrangian density describing a generic, single, non-canonical scalar field, by demanding that the intrinsic, non-adiabatic pressure perturbation associated with the scalar field vanishes identically. Based on the analogy with perfect fluids, we refer to such fields as perfect scalar fields. It is common knowledge that models that depend only on the kinetic energy of the scalar field (often referred to as pure kinetic models) possess no non-adiabatic pressure perturbation. While we are able to construct models that seemingly depend on the scalar field and also do not contain any non-adiabatic pressure perturbation, we find that all such models that we construct allow a redefinition of the field under which they reduce to pure kinetic models. We show that, if a perfect scalar field drives inflation, then, in such situations, the first slow roll parameter will always be a monotonically decreasing function of time. We point out that this behavior implies that these scalar fields can not lead to features in the inflationary, scalar perturbation spectrum.

Inflationary scenario in the supersymmetric economical 3-3-1 model

We construct the supersymmetric economical 3-3-1 model which contains inflationary scenario and avoids the monopole puzzle. Based on the spontaneous symmetry breaking pattern (with three steps), the $F$-term inflation is derived. The slow-roll parameters $\ep$ and $\eta$ are calculated. By imposing as experimental five-year WMAP data on the spectral index $n$, we have derived a constraint on the number of e-folding $N_Q$ to be in the range from 25 to 50. The scenario for large-scale structure formation implied by the model is a mixed scenario for inflation and cosmic string, and the contribution to the CMBR temperature anisotropy depends on the ratio $\frac{M_X}{M_P}$. From the COBE data, we have obtained the constraint on the $M_X$ to be $M_X\in[1.22 \times 10^{16} - 0.98 \times 10^{17}]$ GeV. The upper value $M_X\simeq 10^{17}$ GeV is a result of the analysis in which the inflationary contribution to the temperature fluctuations measured by the COBE is 90%. The coupling $\alpha$ varies in the range: $ 10^{-7} - 10^{-1} $. This value is not so small, and it is a common characteristics of the supersymmetric unified models with the inflationary scenario. The spectral index $n$ is a little bit smaller than 0.98. The SUGRA corrections are slightly different from the previous consideration. When $\xi \ll 1$ and $ \al $ lies in the above range, the spectral index gets the value consistent with the experimental five-year WMAP data. Comparing with string theory, one gets $\xi < 10^{-8}$. Numerical analysis shows that $ \al \approx 10^{-6}$. To get inflation contribution to the CMBR temperature anisotropy $\approx 90%$, the mass scale $M_X \sim 3.5 \times 10^{14}$ GeV.

Minimal inflation

Using the universal X-superfield that measures in the UV the violation of conformal invariance we build up a model of multifield inflation. The underlying dynamics is the one controlling the natural flow of this field in the IR to the goldstino superfield once SUSY is broken. We show that flat directions satisfying the slow-roll conditions exist only if R-symmetry is broken. Naturalness of our model leads to scales of SUSY breaking of the order of 1011–13 GeV, a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of the initial perturbations and negligible gravitational waves. We obtain that the inflaton field is lighter than the gravitino by an amount determined by the slow-roll parameter η. The existence of slow-roll conditions is directly linked to the values of supersymmetry and R-symmetry breaking scales. We make cosmological predictions of our model and compare them to current data.

On cross-correlations between curvature and isocurvature perturbations during inflation

We investigate the effects of couplings between curvature and isocurvatureperturbations before and around horizon-crossings duringcosmological inflation. We consider a generalized two-fieldinflation model, in which the non-canonical kinetic term allows usarbitrary sound speeds of curvature and isocurvature perturbations. By using the field-theoretical perturbative analysis,we calculate the cross-spectrum between curvature and isocurvatureperturbations and the corrections to curvature and isocurvature power spectra due to the presence of couplings between them. Our analysis confirms previous results that the cross-correlations are generated and amplified when perturbations cross the horizons.Moreover, we find the cross-correlation, which was previously shownto be first-order in slow-roll parameter, can be enhanced when thesound speed of curvature perturbation is much larger than that ofthe isocurvature perturbation. This is because in this case theisocurvature perturbation exits its horizon much earlier than thecurvature perturbation and acts as a nearly constant source on thecurvature perturbation.

Probing the primordial power spectra with inflationary priors

We investigate constraints on power spectra of the primordial curvature and tensor perturbations with priors based on single-field slow-roll inflation models. The Hubble slow-roll parameters are included in cosmological parametersand the primordial power spectra are generated using the inflationary flow equations.Using data from recent observations of CMB and several measurements of geometrical distances in the late Universe, we perform Bayesian parameter estimation and model selection for models that have separate priors on the slow-roll parameters. The same analysis is also performed adopting the standard parameterization of the primordial power spectra.We confirmed that the scale-invariant Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum is disfavoredwith more significance than previous studies.While current observations appear to be optimally modeled with some simple models of single-field slow-roll inflation, data is not enough constraining to distinguish these models.

Early universe models from noncommutative geometry

We investigate cosmological predictions on the early universe based on the noncommutative geometry (NCG) models of gravity coupled to matter. Using the renormalization group analysis for the standard model with right-handed neutrinos and Majorana mass terms, which is the particle physics content of the most recent NCG models, we analyze the behavior of the coefficients of the gravitational and cosmological terms in the Lagrangian derived from the asymptotic expansion of the spectral action functional of NCG. We find emergent Hoyle–Narlikar and conformal gravity at the see-saw scales and a running effective gravitational constant, which affects the propagation of gravitational waves and the evaporation law of primordial black holes and provides Linde models of negative gravity in the early universe. The same renormalization group analysis also governs the running of the effective cosmological constant of the model. The model also provides a Higgs-based slow-roll inflationary mechanism, for which one can explicitly compute the slow-roll parameters. The particle physics content allows for dark matter models based on sterile neutrinos with Majorana mass terms.

Non-relativistic matrix inflation

We reconsider a string theoretic inflationary model, where inflation is driven by $n$ multiple coincident $D3$-branes in the finite $n$ limit. We show that the finite $n$ action can be continued to the limit of large $n$, where it converges to the action for a wrapped $D5$-brane with $n$ units of U(1) flux. This provides an important consistency check of the scenario and allows for more control over certain back-reaction effects. We determine the most general form of the action for a specific sub-class of models and examine the non-relativistic limits of the theory where the branes move at speeds much less than the speed of light. The non-Abelian nature of the world-volume theory implies that the inflaton field is matrix valued and this results in modifications to the slow-roll parameters and Hubble-flow equations. A specific small field model of inflation is investigated where the branes move out of an AdS throat, and observational constraints are employed to place bounds on the background fluxes.

Non-Gaussianity as a signature of thermal initial condition of inflation

We study non-Gaussianities in the primordial perturbations in single field inflation where there is radiation era prior to inflation. Inflation takes place when the energy density of radiation drops below the value of the potential of a coherent scalar field. We compute the thermal average of the two, three and four point correlation functions of inflaton fluctuations. The three point function is proportional to the slow roll parameters and there is an amplification in $f_{NL}$ by a factor of 65 to 90 due to the contribution of the thermal bath, and we conclude that the bispectrum is in the range of detectability with the 21-cm anisotropy measurements. The four point function on the other hand appears in this case due to the thermal averaging and the fact that thermal averaging of four-point correlation is not the same as the square of the thermal averaging of the two-point function. Due to this fact $\tau_{NL}$ is not proportional to the slow-roll parameters and can be as large as -42. The non-Gaussianities in the four point correlation of the order 10 can also be detected by 21-cm background observations. We conclude that a signature of thermal inflatons is a large trispectrum non-Gaussianity compared to the bispectrum non-Gaussianity.