Non-minimal warm inflation and perturbations on the warped DGP brane with modified induced gravity

We construct a warm inflation model with inflaton field non-minimally coupled to induced gravity on a warped DGP brane. We incorporate possible modification of the induced gravity on the brane in the spirit of f(R)-gravity. We study cosmological perturbations in this setup. In the case of two field inflation such as warm inflation, usually entropy perturbations are generated. While it is expected that in the case of one field inflation these perturbations to be removed, we show that even in the absence of the radiation field, entropy perturbations are generated in our setup due to non-minimal coupling and modification of the induced gravity. We study the effect of dissipation on the inflation parameters of this extended braneworld scenario.     

Inflationary solutions in general scalar tensor theory of gravitation

Extended inflation solution in Brans-Dicke theory given by Mathiazhagan and Johri (MJ) is shown as the unique solution only if the scale factor is assumed to be a power function of the scalar field. Only the consistent solution amongst the set of solutions given by Patra, Roy and Ray is found identical to the MJ solution. Both exponential inflation and power function inflation are studied in general scalar tensor theory where the parameter to is a function of the scalar, field. It is noted that exponential inflation is forbidden in Brans-Dicke theory wherew is a constant.     

Modulated inflation

We have studied modulated inflation that generates curvature perturbation from light-field fluctuation. As discussed in previous works, even if the fluctuation of the inflaton itself does not generate the curvature perturbation, fluctuation of a light field may induce fluctuation for the end-line of inflation and this may lead to generation of cosmological perturbation “at the end of the inflation”. Our scenario is different from this kind of modulated scenario, as clearly explained in this Letter by using δN formalism. We also explain the crucial difference from the standard multi-field inflation model. We show concrete examples of the modulated inflation scenario in which large non-gaussianity can be generated. We also discuss the running of the non-gaussianity parameter.     

Inflation — an alternative to the singular Big Bang

Domains larger than the horizon in which > (a few) ×M _pl are required for the onset of inflation. Two different, equally plausible, arguments lead us to opposite conclusions about the feasibility of the existence of such regions. It seems that inflation does not free us completely from the need for special initial conditions. However, Linde has pointed out that inflation can be eternal. He stresses the fact that inflation will never cease, but this also means that it did not necessarily have a beginning. We argue that this is the simplest solution to the initial value problem and that inflation might not only solve the problems of the Big Bang model, it might also provide us with an alternative that will replace it altogether.This essay received the third award from the Gravity Research Foundation, 1990 —Ed.     

Does inflation provide natural initial conditions for the universe

If our universe underwent inflation, its entropy during the inflationary phase was substantially lower than it is today. Because a low-entropy state is less likely to be chosen randomly than a high-entropy one, inflation is unlikely to arise through randomly-chosen initial conditions. To resolve this puzzle, we examine the notion of a natural state for the universe, and argue that it is a nearly-empty spacetime. If empty space has a small vacuum energy, however, inflation can begin spontaneously in this background. This scenario explains why a universe like ours is likely to have begun via a period of inflation, and also provides an origin for the cosmological arrow of time. This work was supported in part by the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the NDSEG Fellowship, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Second Award in the 2005 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation. - Ed.     

Spectral index and non-Gaussianity in supersymmetric hybrid inflation

We consider a supersymmetric hybrid inflation model with two inflaton fields. The superpotential during inflation is dominated by W=(κS+κ′S′)M ², where S, S′ are inflatons carrying the same U(1) _R charge, κ, κ′ are dimensionless couplings, and M (∼10¹⁵⁻¹⁶ GeV) is a dimensionful parameter associated with a symmetry breaking scale. One light mass eigenstate drives inflation, while the other heavier mass eigenstate is stuck to the origin. The smallness of the lighter inflaton mass for the scalar spectral index n _s ≈0.96, which is the center value of WMAP7, can be controlled by the ratio κ′/κ through the supergravity corrections. We also discuss the possibility of the two field inflation and large non-Gaussianity in this setup.     

Mimicking trans-Planckian effects in the CMB with conventional physics

We investigate the possibility that fields coupled to the inflaton can influence the primordial spectrum of density perturbations through their coherent motion. For example, the second field in hybrid inflation might be oscillating at the beginning of inflation rather than at the minimum of its potential. Although this effect is washed out if inflation lasts long enough, we note that there can be up to 30e-foldings of inflation prior to horizon crossing of COBE fluctuations while still giving a potentially visible distortion. Such pumping of the inflaton fluctuations by purely conventional physics can resemble trans-Planckian effects which have been widely discussed. The distortions which they make to the CMB could leave a distinctive signature which differs from generic effects like tilting of the spectrum.     

Palatini formulation of modified gravity with squared scalar curvature

In this comment we indicate that in the Palatini formulation of R² gravity, there will be no gravity-driven inflation and under some particular assumptions there will be a mild power-law inflation a t².     

An Exact Inflationary Solution to Non-Minimally Coupling

We find a new exact inflationary solution to non-minimally coupled scalar field from a specific H(φ). The inflation is driven by the evolution of the scalar field with a new inflation potential. The spectral index of the scalar density fluctuations n _s is consistent with the result of WMAP3 for the power-law flat ΛCDM model. Our solution relaxes the constraint to the quartic coupling constant, e.g. when ξ=10³, λ≤8.9×10⁻¹¹.     

Cosmological Density Perturbations from a Quantum Gravitational Model of Inflation

We derive the implications for anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background following from a model of inflation in which a bare cosmological constant is gradually screened by an infrared process in quantum gravity. The model predicts that the amplitude of scalar perturbations is A_S = (2.0 ± 0.2) · 10^—5, that the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r ≈︂ 1.7 · 10^—3, and that the scalar and tensor spectral indices are n ≈︂ 0.97 and n_T ≈︂ —2.8 · 10^—4, respectively. By comparing the model's power spectrum with the COBE 4-year RMS quadrupole, the mass scale of inflation is determined to be M = (0.72 ± 0.03) · 10¹⁶ GeV. At this scale the model produces about 10⁸ e-foldings of inflation, so another prediction is Ω = 1. PACS numbers: 04.60.-m, 98.80.Cq     

Curvature Induced Acceleration and Reheating of the Universe

We present some solutions in a modified theory of gravity with R ² and \frac1R\frac{1}{R} terms in the Einstein-Hilbert action with an ideal fluid in FLRW spacetime. Graceful exit from early inflation to radiation dominated era is obtained in the strong curvature regime preceding a fluctuation of effective equation of state parameter at the end of inflation. In the weak curvature regime the universe evolves through a radiation era that subsequently turns to a matter era and finally transits to late time accelerating era.     

Early and late-time cosmic acceleration in non-minimal Yang–Mills-<Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">G</Emphasis>) gravity

In this paper we show that power-law inflation can be realized in non-minimal gravitational coupling of Yang–Mills field with a general function of the Gauss–Bonnet invariant in the framework of Einstein gravity. Such a non-minimal coupling may appear due to quantum corrections. We also discuss the non-minimal Yang–Mills-f(G) gravity in the framework of modified Gauss–Bonnet action which is widely studied recently. It is shown that both inflation and late-time cosmic acceleration are possible in such a theory.     

Supersymmetric Braneworld Inflation in Light of WMAP7 Observations

We consider a supersymmetric hybrid inflation in the framework of the Randall-Sundrum type-2 braneworld model. In particular, we study braneworld inflation in global supersymmetry with F-term and D-term. We show that we can solve partially the fine-tuning problem related to scalar fields coupling constants. We also derive all known spectrum inflationary parameters which are widely consistent with WMAP7, BAO and H ₀ data, whereas the scalar spectral index n _s >0.98 which lies outside of the range allowed by observations.     

What is the magnetic Weak Gravity Conjecture for axions?

The electric Weak Gravity Conjecture demands that axions with large decay constant f couple to light instantons. The resulting large instantonic corrections pose problems for natural inflation. We explore an alternative argument based on the magnetic Weak Gravity Conjecture for axions, which we try to make more precise. Roughly speaking, it demands that the minimally charged string coupled to the dual 2‐form‐field exists in the effective theory. Most naively, such large‐f strings curve space too much to exist as static solutions, thus ruling out large‐f axions. More conservatively, one might allow non‐static string solutions to play the role of the required charged objects. In this case, topological inflation would save the superplanckian axion. Furthermore, a large‐f axion may appear in the low‐energy effective theory based on two subplanckian axions in the UV. The resulting effective string is a composite object built from several elementary strings and domain walls. It may or may not satisfy the magnetic Weak Gravity Conjecture depending on how strictly the latter is interpreted and on the cosmological dynamics of this composite object, which remain to be fully understood. Finally, we recall that large‐field brane inflation is naively possible in the codimension‐one case. We show how string‐theoretic back‐reaction closes this apparent loophole of large‐f (non‐periodic) pseudo‐axions.     

Isotropization in Bianchi type IX vacuum cosmology

We find the most general Bianchi type IX solution in Brans-Dicke theory (BDT) for the vacuum case, with the local rotational symmetry. For BDT coupling parameterw > 500 the universe becomes isotropic for any amount of initial anisotropy. In the extended inflation scenario, the Brans-Dicke scalar field can avoid the inflation in one direction.     

Cubic superspace symmetry and inflation rules in metastable MgAl alloy

The diffraction properties of a quenched Al-Mg alloy which has been recently termed as a “cubic quasicrystal” are quantitatively reanalyzed. It is shown that the phase can be interpreted within the superspace formalism as an ordinary incommensurately modulated structure. The cubic six-dimensional superspace group that describes its symmetry properties has been determined. The additional inflation symmetry features exhibited by the diffraction diagram can be summed up by its invariance for the inflation factor , but this property has its origin in the specific value of the modulus of the modulation wave vectors, which is composition dependent. Other particular values of this modulus can give rise to similar scaling properties. Further experiments are required to ellucidate if the mentioned inflation symmetry is a fortuitous situation in a composition dependent wave vector, or has indeed the physical significance which would allow to describe the system as a “cubic quasicrystal”. Received: 25 June 1998 / Received in final form and Accepted: 23 September 1998     

Fermions and expanding universe

The coupledDirac-Einstein equations for a homogeneous isotropic space-time forbid aclosed universe but lead to the standard cosmological model for aflat universe. Therefore only theopen universe is left as a nontrivial situation. There some of the desired cosmological effects emerge in a natural way:inflation, creation ex nihilo, etc.     

An inflationary scenario taking into account of possible dark energy effects in the early universe

We investigate the possible effect of cosmological-constant type dark energy during the inflation period of the early universe. This is accommodated by a new dispersion relation in de Sitter space. The modified inflation model of a minimally coupled scalar field is still able to yield an observation-compatible scale-invariant primordial spectrum, simultaneously having the potential to generate a spectrum with lower power at large scales. A qualitative match to the WMAP 7-year data is presented. We obtain an Ω _Λ of the same order of that in the Λ-CDM model. Possible relations between the de Sitter scenario and Doubly Special Relativity (DSR) are also discussed.     

Developments in inflationary cosmology

This talk presents some recent work that has been done in inflationary cosmology. First a brief review is given of the inflation scenario and its basic models. After that, one of the main problems in developing inflationary models has been the requirement of a very flat inflation potential. In solving this problem, supersymmetry has played a major role, and the reasons will be discussed and a specific example of the SUSY hybrid model will be examined. Some problems introduced by SUSY such as the η and gravitino problems will then be discussed. Then in a different direction, the quintessential inflation model will be examined as a proposal where a single scalar field plays the role of both the inflaton at early time and the dark energy field later. The final topic covered is developments in understanding dissipation and particle production processes during the inflationary phase.      

InhomogeneousR 2 inflationary models

We discuss two inhomogeneousR ² inflationary models, a spherically symmetric model and a Szekers class II model. We analyze the behavior of inflation in these systems and find the exact solutions. In the large-time limit, the metric can be written for the de Sitter solution.