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.     

Inflationary models with exponential potentials

In this paper we consider cosmological models containing a self-interacting scalar field possessing a potential of the form V(φ) = Λ exp(−λφ). We investigate the inflationary nature of the model in an (N + 1)-dimensional Friedman space-time as well as in some (3 + 1)-dimensional anisotropic cosmological models. We determine the conditions under which power-law inflation occurs by a detailed stability analysis which determines all possible asymptotic behaviour. We also present some new exact solutions which exhibit the transition to power-law inflation. We determine the range of evolutionary behaviours in each case for all λ ⩾ 0 and find the range of λ values for which power-law inflation occurs. We also discuss how potentials of the exponential type may arise in realistic models of the early universe.     

Reconstruction of constant slow-roll inflation

Using the relations between the slow-roll parameters and the power spectra for the single field slow-roll inflation, we derive the scalar spectral tilt n_s and the tensor to scalar ratio r for the constant slow-roll inflation, and obtain the constraint on the slow-roll parameter η from the Planck 2015 results. The inflationary potential for the constant slow-roll inflation is then reconstructed in the framework of both general relativity and the scalar-tensor theory of gravity, and compared with the recently reconstructed E model potential. In the strong coupling limit, we show that the η attractor is reached.     

Vacuum stability conditions from copositivity criteria

In this paper, we introduce a non-minimally conformally coupled scalar field and dark matter in F(T) cosmology and study their dynamics. We investigate the stability and phase space behavior of the parameters of the scalar field by choosing an exponential potential and cosmologically viable form of F(T). We found that the dynamical system of equations admits two unstable critical points; thus no attractor solutions exist in this cosmology. Furthermore, taking into account the scalar field mimicking quintessence and phantom energy, we discuss the corresponding cosmic evolution for both small and large times. We investigate the cosmological implications of the model via the equation of state and deceleration parameters of our model and show that the late-time Universe will be dominated by phantom energy and, moreover, phantom crossing is possible. Our results do not lead to explicit predictions for inflation and the early Universe era.     

Off-shell photon distribution amplitudes in the low-energy effective theory of QCD

The mechanism of the initial inflationary scenario of the Universe and of its late-time acceleration can be described by assuming the existence of some gravitationally coupled scalar fields $\phi $ , with the inflaton field generating inflation and the quintessence field being responsible for the late accelerated expansion. Various inflationary and late-time accelerated scenarios are distinguished by the choice of an effective self-interaction potential $V(\phi )$ , which simulates a temporarily non-vanishing cosmological term. In this work, we present a new formalism for the analysis of scalar fields in flat isotropic and homogeneous cosmological models. The basic evolution equation of the models can be reduced to a first-order non-linear differential equation. Approximate solutions of this equation can be constructed in the limiting cases of the scalar-field kinetic energy and potential energy dominance, respectively, as well as in the intermediate regime. Moreover, we present several new accelerating and decelerating exact cosmological solutions, based on the exact integration of the basic evolution equation for scalar-field cosmologies. More specifically, exact solutions are obtained for exponential, generalized cosine hyperbolic, and power-law potentials, respectively. Cosmological models with power-law scalar field potentials are also analyzed in detail.     

The premature recollapse problem in closed inflationary universes

We discuss whether closed universe can avoid recollapsing before inflation ensues. We show that in general closed universe are not equivalent to recollapsing universes or positive curvature universes. Closed universes will not in general recollapse if the matter content violates the strong energy condition. This violation is also a necessary condition for inflation to occur. When the strong energy condition holds closed universes can only recollapse if they possess S³ or S²×S¹ spatial topology. Even when the topology is S³ and the strong energy condition holds it is not known whether anisotropic closed universes do all recollapse. We give examples to show that closed universes which begin in an extremely anisotropic state cannot recollapse until they are close to isotropy. This suggests that if the initial conditions prior to inflation are sufficiently anisotropic then the universe cannot recollapse until it has been isotropized by inflation. We also discuss the existence of inflation in isotropic cosmological models in R+R² lagrangian theories of gravity and extend a result of Whitt to show that such theories are conformally equivalent to general relativity plus a scalar field with an asymmetric potential.     

Impact of generalized dissipative coefficient on warm inflationary dynamics in the light of latest Planck data

The warm inflation scenario in view of the modified Chaplygin gas is studied. We consider the inflationary expansion to be driven by a standard scalar field whose decay ratio \(\Gamma \) has a generic power-law dependence with the scalar field \(\phi \) and the temperature of the thermal bath T. By assuming an exponential power-law dependence in the cosmic time for the scale factor a(t), corresponding to the intermediate inflation model, we solve the background and perturbative dynamics considering our model to evolve according to (1) weak dissipative regime and (2) strong dissipative regime. Specifically, we find explicit expressions for the dissipative coefficient, scalar potential, and the relevant inflationary observables like the scalar power spectrum, scalar spectral index, and tensor-to-scalar ratio. The free parameters characterizing our model are constrained by considering the essential condition for warm inflation, the conditions for the model evolves according to weak or strong dissipative regime, and the 2015 Planck results through the \(n_s\)–r plane.     

Scalar field cosmologies in a Bianchi type I universe

The dynamics of a homogeneous, anisotropic, spatially flat Bianchi type I universe filled with a scalar field is studied. Using the usual synchronous form of the line element, general exact solutions for the Einstein field equations are obtained in the case of the exponential-potential scalar field (V=Λexp(k?)) and in the case of the Barrow-Saich potential ( $V \sim \dot \varphi ^2 $ ). Conditions under which inflation can occur are discussed and the late-time behaviour of the models is also considered.     

Stationary condition in a perturbative approach for mass varying neutrinos

A perturbative approach for arbitrary choices of the equation of state of the universe is introduced in order to treat scenarios for mass varying neutrinos (MaVaNs) coupled to the dark sector. The generalized criterion for the applicability of such an approach is expressed through a constraint on the coefficient of the linear perturbation on the dark sector scalar field. This coefficient depends on the ratio between the variation of the neutrino energy and the scalar field potential. Upon certain conditions, the usual stationary condition found in the context of MaVaN models together with the perturbative contribution can be employed to predict the dynamical evolution of the neutrino mass. Our results clearly indicate that the positiveness of the squared speed of sound of the coupled fluid and the model stability are not conditioned by the stationary condition.     

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.      

Dynamics of polynomial Chaplygin gas warm inflation

In the present work, we study the consequences of a recently proposed polynomial inflationary potential in the context of the generalized, modified, and generalized cosmic Chaplygin gas models. In addition, we consider dissipative effects by coupling the inflation field to radiation, i.e., the inflationary dynamics is studied in the warm inflation scenario. We take into account a general parametrization of the dissipative coefficient \(\Gamma \) for describing the decay of the inflaton field into radiation. By studying the background and perturbative dynamics in the weak and strong dissipative regimes of warm inflation separately for the positive and negative quadratic and quartic potentials, we obtain expressions for the most relevant inflationary observables as the scalar power spectrum, the scalar spectral, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio. We construct the trajectories in the \(n_\mathrm{s}\)–r plane for several expressions of the dissipative coefficient and compare with the two-dimensional marginalized contours for (\(n_\mathrm{s},r\)) from the latest Planck data. We find that our results are in agreement with WMAP9 and Planck 2015 data.     

The big bang as a result of the first-order phase transition driven by a change of the scalar curvature in an expanding early Universe: The “hyperinflation” scenario

We suggest that the Big Bang could be a result of the first-order phase transition driven by a change in the scalar curvature of the 4D spacetime in an expanding cold Universe filled with a nonlinear scalar field φ and neutral matter with an equation of state p = νε (where p and ε are the pressure and energy density of the matter, respectively). We consider the Lagrangian of a scalar field with nonlinearity φ⁴ in a curved spacetime that, along with the term–ξR|φ|² quadratic in φ (where ξ is the interaction constant between the scalar and gravitational fields and R is the scalar curvature), contains the term ξRφ₀(φ + φ⁺) linear in φ, where φ₀ is the vacuum mean of the scalar field amplitude. As a consequence, the condition for the existence of extrema of the scalar-field potential energy is reduced to an equation cubic in φ. Provided that ν > 1/3, the scalar curvature R = [κ(3ν–1)ε–4Λ] (where κ and Λ are Einstein’s gravitational and cosmological constants, respectively) decreases with decreasing ε as the Universe expands, and a first-order phase transition in variable “external field” parameter proportional to R occurs at some critical value R _c < 0. Under certain conditions, the critical radius of the early Universe at the point of the first-order phase transition can reach an arbitrary large value, so that this scenario of unrestricted “inflation” of the Universe may be called “hyperinflation.” After the passage through the phase-transition point, the scalar-field potential energy should be rapidly released, which must lead to strong heating of the Universe, playing the role of the Big Bang.     

Hubble induced mass in radiation-dominated universe

We reconsider the effective mass of a scalar field which interact with visible sector via Planck-suppressed coupling in supergravity framework. We focus on the radiation-dominated (RD) era after inflation. In this era, the effective mass is given by thermal average of interaction terms. To make our analysis clear, we rely on Kadanoff–Baym equations to evaluate the thermal average. We find that, in RD era, a scalar field acquires the effective mass of the order of H.     

Reheating,thermalization and non-thermal gravitino production in MSSM inflation

In the framework of MSSM inflation, matter and gravitino production are here investigated through the decay of the fields which are coupled to the udd inflaton, a gauge-invariant combination of squarks. After the end of inflation, the flat direction oscillates about the minimum of its potential, losing at each oscillation about 56% of its energy into bursts of gauge/gaugino and scalar quanta when crossing the origin. These particles then acquire a large inflaton VEV-induced mass and decay perturbatively into the MSSM quanta and gravitinos, transferring the inflaton energy very efficiently via instant preheating. Regarding thermalization, we show that the MSSM degrees of freedom thermalize very quickly, yet not immediately by virtue of the large vacuum expectation value of the inflaton, which breaks the \(SU(3)_C\times U(1)_Y\) symmetry into a residual U(1). The energy transfer to the MSSM quanta is very efficient, since full thermalization is achieved after only \(\mathcal {O}(40)\) complete oscillations. The udd inflaton thus provides an extremely efficient reheating of the Universe, with a temperature \(T_{\text {reh}}=\mathcal {O}(10^8\,{\text {GeV}})\), which allows for instance several mechanisms of baryogenesis. We also compute the gravitino number density from the perturbative decay of the flat direction and of the SUSY multiplet. We find that the gravitinos are produced in negligible amount and satisfy cosmological bounds such as the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and dark matter (DM) constraints.     

Holographic dark energy in Brans–Dicke cosmology with chameleon scalar field

We study a cosmological implication of holographic dark energy in the Brans–Dicke gravity. We employ the holographic model of dark energy to obtain the equation of state for the holographic energy density in non-flat (closed) universe enclosed by the event horizon measured from the sphere of horizon named L. Our analysis shows that one can obtain the phantom crossing scenario if the model parameter α (of order unity) is tuned accordingly. Moreover, this behavior is achieved by treating the Brans–Dicke scalar field as a Chameleon scalar field and taking a non-minimal coupling of the scalar field with matter. Hence one can generate phantom-like equation of state from a holographic dark energy model in non-flat universe in the Brans–Dicke cosmology framework.     

Hybrid quintessential inflation

A model is presented in which a single scalar field is responsible for both primordial inflation at early times and then dark energy at late times. This field is coupled to a second scalar field which becomes unstable and starts to oscillate after primordial inflation, thus driving a reheating phase that can create a high post-inflation temperature. This model easily avoids overproduction of gravity waves, which is a problem in the original quintessential inflation model in which reheating occurs via gravitational particle production.     

Superstring-inspired supergravity as the universal source of inflation and quintessence

We prove (in superspace) the equivalence between the higher-derivative N=1$N=1$ supergravity, defined by a holomorphic function F of the chiral scalar curvature superfield, and the standard theory of a chiral scalar superfield with a chiral superpotential W, coupled to the (minimal) Poincaré supergravity in four spacetime dimensions. The relation between the holomorphic functions F and W is found. It can be used as the technical framework for the possible scenario unifying the early Universe inflation and the present Universe acceleration. We speculate on the possible origin of our model as the effective supergravity generated by quantum superstrings, with a dilaton–axion field as the leading field component of the chiral superfield.     

Warm Gauge-Flation with General Dissipative Coefficient

In this work, we study the effects of generalized dissipative coefficient on the slow-roll inflation driven by non-Abelian gauge field minimally coupled to gravity. The dynamics of warm intermediate and logamediate inflationary models during weak and strong dissipative regimes is analyzed. In both cases, we explore effective scalar potential, slow-roll parameters, scalar and tensor power spectra, scalar spectral index and tensor to scalar ratio under slow-roll conditions. We conclude that our gauge-flationary model with generalized dissipative coefficient remains consistent with the recent data for dissipative parameter m = 3 and m = 1 for weak and strong dissipative eras, respectively.     

Inflation with hyperbolic potential in the braneworld model

In this paper we study inflationary dynamics with a scalar field in an inverse coshyperbolic potential in the braneworld model. We note that a sufficient inflation may be obtained with the potential considering slow-roll approximation in the high energy limit. We determine the minimum values of the initial inflaton field required to obtain sufficient inflation and also determine the relevant inflationary parameters. The numerical values of spectral index of the scalar perturbation spectrum are determined by varying the number of e-foldings for different initial values of the inflaton field. The result obtained here is in good agreement with the current observational limits.