Models for inflation with a low supersymmetry-breaking scale

We present models where the same scalar field is responsible for inflation and for the breaking of supersymmetry. The scale of supersymmetry breaking is related to the slope of the potential in the plateau region described by the scalar field during the slow rollover, and the gravitino mass can therefore be kept as small as M_W, the mass of the weak gauge boson. We show that such a result is stable under radiative corrections. We describe the inflationary scenario corresponding to the simplest of these models and show that no major problem arises, except for a violation of the thermal constraint (stabilization of the field in the plateau region at high temperature). We discuss the possibility of introducing a second scalar field to satisfy this constraint.     

Scale invariance and inflation

A scale invariant model for early universe inflationary cosmology is developed. In order to realize dilatation invariance and spontaneous symmetry breaking we introduce two scalar fields, a dilaton and an inflaton. The scale invariant theory encompasses the Brans-Dicke and induced-gravity models as limiting cases. The model is solved numerically for a wide class of initial conditions. We find that the inflationary epoch is generically characterized by a two phase evolution of the universe: A single or double exponential era and a power-law expansion. Onset of gravity triggers double exponential evolution of the scale factor. We further examine inflation in the Brans-Dicke theory and find that scale invariance is restored in the course of spontaneous symmetry breaking.     

Inflation as a cure for the cosmological problems of superstring models with intermediate scale breaking

Superstring inspired models with an intermediate stage of symmetry breaking have severe cosmological problems associated with the breaking of discrete symmetries (domain wall problem) and with the need for a light decoupled scalar field (Polonyi problem). We show that an early period of inflation which gives the desired flatness, dilution of unwanted species, and density fluctuations also eliminates the problem associated with intermediate scale breaking. Mechanisms regenerating the baryon-number asymmetry are briefly described.     

Emergent universe from scale invariant two measures theory

The dilaton-gravity sector of a linear in the scalar curvature, scale invariant Two Measures Field Theory (TMT), is explored in detail in the context of closed FRW cosmology and shown to allow stable emerging universe solutions. The model possesses scale invariance which is spontaneously broken due to the intrinsic features of the TMT dynamics. We study the transition from the emerging phase to inflation, and then to a zero cosmological constant phase. We also study the spectrum of density perturbations and the constraints that impose on the parameters of the theory.     

Can inflation induce supersymmetry breaking in a metastable vacuum?

We argue that fields responsible for inflation and supersymmetry breaking are connected by gravitational couplings. In view of the recent progress in studying supersymmetry breaking in a metastable vacuum, we have shown that in models of supersymmetric hybrid inflation, where R-symmetry plays an important role, the scale of supersymmetry breaking is generated dynamically at the end of inflation and turns out to be consistent with gravity mediation.     

Holographic bounds and Higgs inflation

In a recently proposed scenario for primordial inflation, where the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson plays a role of the inflation field, an effective field theory (EFT) approach is the most convenient for working out the consequences of breaking of perturbative unitarity, caused by the strong coupling of the Higgs field to the Ricci scalar. The domain of validity of the EFT approach is given by the ultraviolet (UV) cutoff, which, roughly speaking, should always exceed the Hubble parameter in the course of inflation. On the other hand, applying the trusted principles of quantum gravity to a local EFT demands that it should only be used to describe states in a region larger than their corresponding Schwarschild radius, manifesting thus a sort of UV/IR correspondence. We consider both constraints on EFT, to ascertain which models of the SM Higgs inflation are able to simultaneously comply with them. We also show that if the gravitational coupling evolves with the scale factor, the holographic constraint can be alleviated significantly with minimal set of canonical assumptions, by forcing the said coupling to be asymptotically free.     

Unitarity bounds on low scale quantum gravity

We study the unitarity of models with low scale quantum gravity both in four dimensions and in models with a large extra-dimensional volume. We find that models with low scale quantum gravity have problems with unitarity below the scale at which gravity becomes strong. An important consequence of our work is that their first signal at the Large Hadron Collider would not be of a gravitational nature such as graviton emission or small black holes, but rather would be linked to the mechanism which fixes the unitarity problem. We also study models with scalar fields with non-minimal couplings to the Ricci scalar. We consider the strength of gravity in these models and study the consequences for inflation models with non-minimally coupled scalar fields. We show that a single scalar field with a large non-minimal coupling can lower the Planck mass in the TeV region. In that model, it is possible to lower the scale at which gravity becomes strong down to 14 TeV without violating unitarity below that scale.     

Linear inflation from running kinetic term in supergravity

We propose a new class of inflation models in which the coefficient of the inflaton kinetic term rapidly changes with energy scale. This naturally occurs especially if the inflaton moves over a long distance during inflation as in the case of large-scale inflation. The peculiar behavior of the kinetic term opens up a new way to construct an inflation model. As a concrete example we construct a linear inflation model in supergravity. It is straightforward to build a chaotic inflation model with a fractional power along the same line. Interestingly, the potential takes a different form after inflation because of the running kinetic term.     

Back-door fine-tuning in supersymmetric low scale inflation

Low scale inflation has many virtues and it has been claimed that its natural realisation in the supersymmetric Standard Model can be achieved rather easily. In this Letter we demonstrate that the dynamics of the hidden sector responsible for supersymmetry breaking and the structure of the soft terms affects significantly, and in fact often spoils, the would-be inflationary dynamics. We also point out that the issue of the cosmological constant cancellation in the post-inflationary vacuum strongly affects supersymmetric inflation. It is important to note the crucial difference between the freezing of the modulus and actually stabilising it—the first approach misses parts of the scalar potential which turn out to be relevant for inflation. We argue that it is more likely that low scale supersymmetric inflation occurs at a critical point at the origin of the field space than at an inflection point away from the origin, as the necessary fine-tuning in the second case is typically larger.     

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.      

Modular thermal inflation without slow-roll approximation

We study an inflationary scenario where thermal inflation is followed by fast-roll inflation. This is a rather generic possibility based on the effective potentials of spontaneous symmetry breaking in the context of particle physics models. We show that a large enough expansion could be achieved to solve cosmological problems. However, the power spectrum of primordial density perturbations from the quantum fluctuations in the inflaton field is not scale invariant and thus inconsistent with observations. Using the curvaton mechanism instead, we can obtain a nearly scale invariant spectrum, provided that the inflationary energy scale is sufficiently low to have long enough fast-roll inflation to dilute the perturbations produced by the inflaton fluctuations.     

Primordial curvature perturbation during and at the end of multi-field inflation

We study the generation of the primordial curvature perturbation in multi-field inflation. Considering both the evolution of the perturbation during inflation and the effects generated at the end of inflation, we present a general formula for the curvature perturbation. We provide the analytic expressions of the power spectrum, spectral tilt and non-Gaussianity for the separable potentials of two inflaton scalars, and apply them to some specific models.     

Preheating and vacuum metastability in supersymmetry

The constraints imposed by the requirement that the scalar potential of supersymmetric theories does not have unbounded directions and charge or color breaking minima deeper than the usual electroweak breaking minimum (EWM) are significantly relaxed if one just allows for a metastable EWM but with a sufficiently long lifetime. For this to be acceptable one needs however to explain how the vacuum state reaches this metastable configuration in the first place. We discuss the implications for this issue of the inflation induced scalar masses, of the supersymmetry breaking effects generated during the preheating stage as well as of the thermal corrections to the scalar potential which appear after reheating. We show that their combined effects may efficiently drive the scalar fields to the origin, allowing them to then evolve naturally towards the EWM.     

Non-gravitating scalar field in the FRW background

We study interacting scalar field theory non-minimally coupled to gravity in the FRW background. We show that for a specific choice of interaction terms, the energy–momentum tensor of the scalar field ϕ vanishes, and as a result the scalar field does not gravitate. The naive space dependent solution to equations of motion gives rise to singular field profile. We carefully analyze the energy–momentum tensor for such a solution and show that the singularity of the solution gives a subtle contribution to the energy–momentum tensor. The space dependent solution therefore is not non-gravitating. Our conclusion is applicable to other space–time dependent non-gravitating solutions as well. We study hybrid inflation scenario in this model when purely time dependent non-gravitating field is coupled to another scalar field χ.     

Closed inflationary universe in patch cosmology

In this paper, we study closed inflationary universe models using the Gauss–Bonnet Brane. We determine and characterize the existence of a universe with Ω>1, with an appropriate period of inflation. We have found that this model is less restrictive in comparison with the standard approach where a scalar field is considered. We use recent astronomical observations to constrain the parameters appearing in the model.     

Non-Gaussianity in axion N-flation models

We study perturbations in the multifield axion N-flation model, taking account of the full cosine potential. We find significant differences from previous analyses which made a quadratic approximation to the potential. The tensor-to-scalar ratio and the scalar spectral index move to lower values, which nevertheless provide an acceptable fit to observation. Most significantly, we find that the bispectrum non-Gaussianity parameter f{NL} may be large, typically of order 10 for moderate values of the axion decay constant, increasing to of order 100 for decay constants slightly smaller than the Planck scale. Such a non-Gaussian fraction is detectable. We argue that this property is generic in multifield models of hilltop inflation.     

Inflation and inflation uncertainty: A dynamic framework

This paper aims to investigate the direct relationship between inflation and inflation uncertainty by employing a dynamic method for the monthly country–region–place United States data for the time period 1976–2007. While the bulk of previous studies has employed GARCH models in investigating the link between inflation and inflation uncertainty, in this study Stochastic Volatility in Mean models are used to capture the shocks to inflation uncertainty within a dynamic framework. These models allow researchers to assess the dynamic effects of innovations in inflation as well as inflation volatility on inflation and inflation volatility over time, by incorporating the unobserved volatility as an explanatory variable in the mean (inflation) equation. Empirical findings suggest that innovations in inflation volatility increases inflation. This evidence is robust across various definitions of inflation and different sub-periods.