Based on the stochastic gravity, we study the loop corrections to the scalar and tensor perturbations during inflation. Since the loop corrections to scalar perturbations suffer infrared (IR) divergence, we consider the IR regularization to obtain the finite value. We find that the loop corrections to the scalar perturbations are amplified by the e-folding; in other words there appear the logarithmic correction, just as discussed by M.Sloth et al. On the other hand, we find that the tensor perturbations do not suffer from infrared divergence.
Starobinsky inflation and Higgs inflation in gravity, and their equivalence based on the common inflationary potential are extended to supergravity in the proper framework, where the Starobinsky and Higgs descriptions of inflation arise in two different gauges of the same supergravity model.
We study logamediate inflation in the context of $f(T)$ teleparallel gravity. $f(T)$-gravity is a generalization of the teleparallel gravity which is formulated on the Weitzenböck spacetime, characterized by the vanishing curvature tensor (absolute parallelism) and the non-vanishing torsion tensor. We consider an $f(T)$-gravity model which is sourced by a canonical scalar field. Assuming a power-law $f(T)$ function in the action, we investigate an inflationary universe with a logamediate scale factor. Our results show that, although logamediate inflation is completely ruled out by observationa…
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-minima…
We reconsider the toy-model of topological inflation, based on the R*4-modified gravity. By using its equivalence to the certain scalar-tensor gravity model in four space-time dimensions, we compute the inflaton scalar potential and investigate a possibility of inflation. We confirm the existence of the slow-roll inflation with an exit. However, the model suffers from the eta-problem that gives rise to the unacceptable value of the spectral index n_s of scalar perturbations.
We consider 4D quantum-dilaton gravity with the most general coupling in a homogeneous and isotropic universe, especially an inflationary one, which is essentially characterized by an exponentially expanding scale factor with time. We show that on the inflationary background this theory can be miraculously renormalized, at least at the one-loop level, which must be an effective theory during the inflation of the un-constructed complete quantum theory of gravity.
A D-dimensional induced gravity theory is studied carefully in a $4 + (D-4)$ dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-time. We try to extract information of the symmetry breaking potential in search of an inflationary solution with non-expanding internal-space. We find that the induced gravity model imposes strong constraints on the form of symmetry breaking potential in order to generate an acceptable inflationary universe. These constraints are analyzed carefully in this paper.
We investigate the scalar perturbation of the inflation model driven by a massive-scalar field in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity. We focus on the perturbation at the attractor stage in which the first and the second slow-roll conditions are satisfied. The scalar perturbation exhibits the corrections to the chaotic inflation model in general relativity. We find that the tensor-to-scalar ratio becomes smaller than that of the usual chaotic inflation.
We study the inflationary dynamics in Brane World gravity and look for observational signatures of any deviation from the standard General Relativity based results of Cosmological Perturbation Theory. We first review the standard paradigm of General Relativity based inflationary dynamics and cosmological perturbation theory and then go on to review Brane World gravity. Finally we look at the high energy corrections for some chosen models and compare the results with the Planck and WMAP (9 year) data. Then we make a summary of our results and point out certain interesting features of Brane Worl…
Inflationary paradigm has several issues, such as the pre-inflationary horizon problem or the eternal inflation. To avoid that the standard Starobinsky inflation has been extended to $R + αR^n$ and $R + αR^n -δR^{2-n}$ models as well as Brans-Dicke generalisation of those $f(R)$ models. The region of the parameter space, which provides consistency with PLANCK data and lack of eternal inflation has been founded. The Einstein frame potential has a stable minimum with non-zero vacuum energy, which may be a source of dark energy.
We investigate how eternal inflation is affected by quantum gravity effects. We consider general features of quantum gravity, such as renormalizability, complementarity, minimal length, definition of observables, and weak gravity conjecture. We also consider phenomenological models such as ghost inflation, non-commutative inflation, brane inflation, k-inflation and resonant tunneling. We find that all these features and models do not support eternal inflation. These evidences show hints that eternal inflation is prohibited by quantum gravity.
The linear and quadratic perturbations for a scalar-tensor model with non-minimal coupling to curvature, coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet invariant and non-minimal kinetic coupling to the Einstein tensor are developed. The quadratic action for the scalar and tensor perturbations is constructed and the power spectra for the primordial scalar and tensor fluctuations are given. A consistency relation that is useful to discriminate the model from the standard inflation with canonical scalar field was found. For some power-law potentials it is shown that the Introduction of additional interactions, giv…
Asymptotically Safe theories of gravity have recently received much attention. In this work we discuss a class of inflationary models derived from quantum-gravity modification of quadratic gravity according to the induced scaling around the non-Gaussian fixed point at very high energies. It is argued that the presence of a three dimensional ultraviolet critical surface generates operators of non-integer power of the type $R^{2-θ/2}$ in the effective Lagrangian, where $θ>0$ is a critical exponent. The requirement of a successful inflationary model in agreement with the recent Planck 2015 data p…
We continue our study of gravity described by the action density (-g)^(1/2)(R_ik^2+bR^2); and look for cosmological solutions of gravity coupled to dust, for the closed isotropic model. There is a solution that at t approaches zero has for the radius, a(t)=t/3^(1/2); in the absence of dust this solution holds for all time.
We investigate the scalar perturbation produced at the pre-inflationary stage driven by a massive scalar field in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity. The scalar power spectrum exhibits a peculiar rise for low $k$-modes. The tensor-to-scalar ratio can be significantly lowered compared with that in the standard chaotic inflation model in general relativity. This result is very affirmative considering the recent dispute on the detection of the gravitational wave radiation between PLANCK and BICEP2.
We show that without introducing additional fields or extra degrees of freedom, a specific higher derivative extension of Einstein's gravity that has only a massless spin-2 excitation in its perturbative spectrum, has an inflationary period, a quasi-de Sitter phase with enough number of e-foldings required to solve the horizon and related problems. The crucial ingredient in the construction is the curvature dependence of the effective Newton's constant.
We study a scalar-tensor cosmological model where the Einstein tensor is non-minimally coupled to the free scalar field dynamics. Using FRW metric, we investigate the behavior of scale factor for vacuum, matter and dark energy dominated eras. Especially, we focus on the inflationary behavior at early universe. Moreover, we study the perturbation analysis of this model in order to confront the inflation under consideration with the observational results.
It is known that the no-boundary proposal in the traditional Einstein gravity does not prefer inflation, that is, the probability of realizing a large number of e-folds is exponentially suppressed. This situation may be changed drastically in a class of nonlinear massive gravity theories recently proposed by deRham, Gabadadze and Tolley, called dRGT massive gravity. We show that the contribution from the massive gravity sector can enhance the probability of a large number of e-folds substantially for a sufficiently large mass parameter mg comparable to the Hubble parameter during inflation, sa…
First, we propose a scale-invariant modified gravity interacting with a neutral scalar "inflaton" and a Higgs-like SU(2)xU(1) iso-doublet scalar field based on the formalism of non-Riemannian (metric-independent) spacetime volume-elements. This model describes in the physical Einstein frame a quintessential inflationary scenario driven by the "inflaton" together with gravity-inflaton assisted dynamical spontaneous SU(2)xU(1) symmetry breaking in the post-inflationary universe, whereas SU(2)xU(1) symmetry remains intact in the inflationary epoch. Next, we find the explicit representation of the…
Mimetic gravity is analysed in the framework of some extensions of General Relativity, where a function of the Gauss-Bonnet invariant in four dimensions is considered. By assuming the so-called mimetic condition, the conformal degree of freedom is isolated and a pressureless fluid naturally arises. Then, the complete set of field equations for mimetic Gauss-Bonnet gravity is established and some inflationary models are analysed, for which the corresponding gravitational action is reconstructed. The spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio are obtained and compared with observational bounds fr…
We study gravitational waves generated during the inflationary epoch in presence of a decaying cosmological parameter on a 5D geometrical background which is Riemann flat. Two examples are considered, one with a constant cosmological parameter and the second with a decreasing one.
We study aspects of quantum cosmology in the presence of a modified space-time geometry. In particular, within the context of Gravity's Rainbow modified geometry, motivated from quantum gravity corrections at the Planck energy scale, we show that the distortion of the metric leads to a Wheeler-De Witt equation whose solution admits outgoing plane waves. Hence, a period of cosmological inflation may arise without the need for introducing an inflaton field.
A new hybrid inflationary scenario in the context of $f(R,{\Box}R)$-gravity is proposed. Demanding the waterfall field to 'support the potential from below' [unlike the original proposal by Stewart in Phys. Lett. B345, 414 (1995)], we demonstrate that the scalar potential is similar to that of the large-field chaotic inflation model proposed by Linde in Phys. Lett. B129, 177 (1983). Inflationary observables are used to constrain the parameter space of our model; in the process, an interesting limit on the number of e-folds N is found.
We construct phase-space structure of a typical higher-order theory of gravity, in the background of anisotropic Bianchi-1 mini-superspace, following `Modified Horowitz Formalism' as well as applying `Dirac Algorithm' (after taking care of the divergent terms), and establish equivalence. Canonical quantization, and semiclassical approximation are performed to expatiate the fact that such a quantum theory transits successfully to a classical de-Sitter universe. Inflation has thereafter been studied. The numerical values of the inflationary parameters show excellent agreement with the latest rel…
Accelerating dynamics from Born-Infeld-$f(R)$ gravity are studied in a simplified conformal approach without matter. Explicit unification of inflation with late-time acceleration is realized within this singular inflation approach, which is similar to Odintsov-Oikonomou singular $f(R)$ inflation. Our model turns out to be consistent with the latest release of Planck data.
Motivated by the fact that the pre-inflationary era may evolve in an exotic way, in this work we formalize anisotropic evolution in the context of modified gravity, focusing on pre-inflationary and near the vicinity of the inflationary epochs. We specialize on specific metrics like Bianchi and Taub and we formalize the inflationary theory in vacuum $F(R)$ gravity, in $F(R)$ gravity with an extra scalar field and in Gauss-Bonnet gravity. We discuss the qualitative effects of the anisotropies on the evolution of the Universe and also we consider several specific solutions, like the de Sitter sol…
We generalize the notion of constant-roll inflation earlier introduced in General Relativity (GR) and $f(R)$ gravity to inflationary models in more general scalar-tensor gravity. A number of novel exact analytic solutions for a FLRW spatially flat cosmological background is found for this case. All forms of the scalar field potential and its coupling to gravity producing the exact de Sitter solution, while the scalar field is varying, are presented. In the particular cases of induced gravity and GR with a non-minimally coupled scalar field, all constant-roll inflationary solutions are found. I…
We investigate inflation in frames of two classes of $F(R)$ gravity and check its consistency with Planck data. It is shown that $F(R)$ inflation without self-reproduction may be constructed in close analogy with the corresponding scalar example proposed by Mukhanov for the resolution the problems of multiverse, predictability and initial conditions.
We discuss the damping of tensor modes due to anisotropic stress in inflation. The effect is negligible in standard inflation and may be significantly large in inflation models that involve drastic production of free-streaming particles.
The classical evolution and the quantum generation processes of the scalar- and tensor-type cosmological perturbations in the context of a broad class of generalized gravity theories are presented in unified forms. The exact forms of final spectra of the two types of structures generated during a generalized slow-roll inflation are derived. Results in generalized gravity are characterized by two additional parameters which are the coupling between gravity and field, and the nonminimal coupling in the kinetic part of the field. Our general results include widely studied gravity theories and inf…
We evaluate the dimensionless non-Gaussianity parameter $h_{_{\rm NL}}$, that characterizes the amplitude of the tensor bispectrum, numerically for a class of two field inflationary models such as double inflation, hybrid inflation and aligned natural inflation. We compare the numerical results with the slow roll results which can be obtained analytically. In the context of double inflation, we also investigate the effects on $h_{_{\rm NL}}$ due to curved trajectories in the field space. We explicitly examine the validity of the consistency relation governing the tensor bispectrum in the squee…
In this letter we study the generation of gravitational waves during inflation from a 5D vacuum theory of gravity. Within this formalism, on an effective 4D de Sitter background, we recover the typical results obtained with 4D inflationary theory in general relativity, for the amplitude of gravitational waves generated during inflation. We also obtain a range of values for the amplitude of tensor to scalar ratio which is in agreement with COBE observations.
The effect of the initial conditions in inflation on scalar and tensor perturbations is investigated. Formulae for the power spectra of gravitational waves and curvature perturbations for any initial conditions in inflation are derived, and the ratio of scalar to tensor perturbations and spectral index are calculated. The formulation is applied to some simplified pre-inflationary cosmological models, and the differences of the ratio and spectral index are investigated with respect to two matching conditions. In addition, the present power spectrum of gravitational waves is derived. The propose…
We review several related investigations of the effects of the quantum stress tensor of a conformal field in inflationary cosmology. Particular attention will be paid to the effects of quantum stress tensor fluctuations as a source of density and tensor perturbations in inflationary models. These effects can possibly depend upon the total expansion factor during inflation, and hence be much larger than one might otherwise expect. They have the potential to contribute a non-scale invariant and non-Gaussian component to the primordial spectrum of perturbations, and might be observable.
We elaborate on the inflationary model starting from multidimensional Lagrangian and gravity with second-order curvature terms. The effective scalar field is related to the Ricci scalar of extra dimensions. It is shown that the Kretschmann and the Ricci tensor square terms dominate during inflation. The observable values of the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio are obtained for specific values of the model parameters.
We study the tilt of the primordial gravitational waves spectrum. A hint of blue tilt is shown from analyzing the BICEP2 and POLARBEAR data. Motivated by this, we explore the possibilities of blue tensor spectra from the very early universe cosmology models, including null energy condition violating inflation, inflation with general initial conditions, and string gas cosmology, etc. For the simplest G-inflation, blue tensor spectrum also implies blue scalar spectrum. In general, the inflation models with blue tensor spectra indicate large non-Gaussianities. On the other hand, string gas cosmol…
We investigate the inflationary realization in the context of unimodular $F(T)$ gravity, which is based on the $F(T)$ modification of teleparallel gravity, in which one imposes the unimodular condition through the use of Lagrange multipliers. We develop the general reconstruction procedure of the $F(T)$ form that can give rise to a given scale-factor evolution, and then we apply it in the inflationary regime. We extract the Hubble slow-roll parameters that allow us to calculate various inflation-related observables, such as the scalar spectral index and its running, the tensor-to-scalar ratio,…
We explore trace-anomaly driven inflation in modified gravity. It is explicitly shown that in $T^2$ teleparallel gravity, the de Sitter inflation can occur, although quasi de Sitter inflation happens in $R^2$ gravity. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of the trace anomaly on inflation. It is found that in $f(T)$ gravity, the de Sitter inflation can end because it becomes unstable due to the trace anomaly, whereas also in higher derivative gravity, the de Sitter inflation can be realized and it will be over thanks to the trace anomaly for smaller parameter regions in comparison with tho…
We review inflationary cosmology in modified gravity such as $R^2$ gravity with its extensions in order to generalize the Starobinsky inflation model. In particular, we explore inflation realized by three kinds of effects: modification of gravity, the quantum anomaly, and the $R^2$ term in loop quantum cosmology. It is explicitly demonstrated that in these inflationary models, the spectral index of scalar modes of the density perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio can be consistent with the Planck results. Bounce cosmology in $F(R)$ gravity is also explained.
We show that in theories with a nontrivial kinetic term the contribution of the gravitational waves to the CMB fluctuations can be substantially larger than that is naively expected in simple inflationary models. This increase of the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio leads to a larger B-component of the CMB polarization, thus making the prospects for future detection much more promising. The other important consequence of the considered model is a higher energy scale of inflation and hence higher reheating temperature compared to a simple inflation.
We explain why it is so difficult and perhaps even impossible to increase the cosmological tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio during the post-inflationary evolution of the universe. Nevertheless, contrary to some recent claims, tensor perturbations can be relatively large in the simplest inflationary models which do not violate any rules of modern quantum field theory.
In this work we study certain classes of $F(R,{\cal G})$ gravity which have appealing phenomenological features, with respect to the successful realization of the dark energy and of the inflationary era. Particularly, we discuss the general formalism and we demonstrate how several inflationary and dark energy evolutions can be described in the context of $F(R,{\cal G})$ gravity. Also we propose a unified model, in the context of which the early and late-time dynamics are controlled by the $F(R,{\cal G})$ gravity, thus producing inflation and the dark energy era, while the intermediate era is a…
We discuss the cosmological inflation in the context of $f(Q)$ non-metric gravity, where $Q$ is the non-metric scalar. After introducing conformal transformations for $f(Q)$ gravity, we first focus on the potential-slow-roll inflation by studying the corresponding potentials for different forms of the function $f(Q)$ in the Einstein frame. Secondly, we investigate the Hubble-slow-roll inflation for three classes of inflationary potentials considered for the specific form $f(Q)\propto Q^{2}$, in the Jordan frame. We compare results in both approaches with observations coming from Planck and BIC…
We study the mixed scalar-tensor two-point function in icosahedral inflation. Within the regime of validity of the effective field theory, this has to be perturbatively small; in particular, much smaller than the scalar spectrum. However, it can be much bigger that the tensor spectrum itself. We discuss observational implications for the CMB temperature-polarization spectrum.
We consider a class of exponential models of $f(R)$ gravity, in the presence of a canonical scalar field, for which at early times the effective Lagrangian of the theory becomes that of a rescaled canonical scalar field with the Einstein-Hilbert term becoming $\sim αR$, with $α$ a dimensionless constant. This rescaled Einstein-Hilbert scalar field theory at early times alters the inflationary phenomenology of well-known scalar field models of inflation, but more importantly, in the context of this rescaled theory, the Swampland criteria are easily satisfied, assuming that the scalar field is s…
Inflationary slow-roll dynamics in Einstein gravity with a non-minimal scalar-curvature coupling can be equivalent to that in the certain f(R) gravity theory. We review the correspondence and extend it to N=1 supergravity. The non-minimal coupling in supergravity is rewritten in terms of the standard (`minimal') N=1 matter-coupled supergravity by using curved superspace. The established equivalence between two different inflationary theories means the same inflaton scalar potential, and does not imply the same post-inflationary dynamics and reheating.
We investigate whether the eternal chaotic inflation can be achieved when the weak gravity conjecture is taken into account. We show that even the assisted chaotic inflation with potential $λϕ^4$ or $m^2ϕ^2$ can not be eternal. The effective field theory description for the inflaton field breaks down before inflation reaches the eternal regime. We also find that the total number of e-folds is still bounded by the inflationary entropy for the assisted inflation.
We consider the effects of the quantum stress tensor fluctuations of a conformal field in generating gravity waves in inflationary models. We find a non-scale invariant, non-Gaussian contribution which depends upon the total expansion factor between an initial time and the end of inflation. This spectrum of gravity wave perturbations is an illustration of a negative power spectrum, which is possible in quantum field theory. We discuss possible choices for the initial conditions. If the initial time is taken to be sufficiently early, the fluctuating gravity waves are potentially observable both…
We calculate the expectation value of the coincident product of two field strength tensors at two loop order in scalar electrodynamics on de Sitter background. The result agrees with the stochastic formulation which we have developed in a companion paper [2] for the nonperturbative resummation of leading logarithms of the scale factor. When combined with a previous computation of scalar bilinears [1], our current result also gives the two loop stress-energy tensor for inflationary scalar electrodynamics. This shows a secular decrease in the vacuum energy which derives from the vacuum polarizat…
Emergence of $R^2$ inflation which is the best fit framework for CMB observations till date comes from the attempts to attack the problem of quantization of gravity which in turn have resulted in the trace anomaly discovery. Further developments in trace anomaly and different frameworks aiming to construct quantum gravity indicate an inevitability of non-locality in fundamental physics at small time and length scales. A natural question would be to employ the $R^2$ inflation as a probe for signatures of non-locality in the early Universe physics. Recent advances of embedding $R^2$ inflation in…
We investigate a (super-)renormalizable and ghost-free theory of gravity, showing that under a natural (exponential) ansatz of the form factor and a suitable truncation it can give rise to the Starobinsky inflationary theory in cosmological frameworks, and thus offering a theoretical justification of its origin. We study the corresponding inflationary evolution and we examine the generation of curvature perturbations, adapting the $f(R)$-like equations in a symmetry-reduced FLRW metric. Furthermore, we analyze how the ultraviolet regime of a simply renormalizable and unitary theory of gravity …
Once quantum corrections are taken into account, the strong coupling limit of the $ξ$-attractor models (in metric gravity) might depart from the usual Starobinsky solution and move into linear inflation. Furthermore, it is well known that the metric and Palatini formulations of gravity lead to different inflationary predictions in presence of non-minimally couplings between gravity and the inflaton. In this letter we show that for a certain class of non-minimally coupled models, loop corrections will lead to a linear inflation attractor regardless of the adopted gravity formulation.
We consider FRW cosmology in non-local modified gravity. Its local scalar-tensor formulation is developed. It is explicitly demonstrated that such theory may lead to the unification of early-time inflation with late-time cosmic acceleration. The quintessence or phantom era may emerge for specific form of the action. The coupled non-local-F(R) gravity is also investigated. It is shown that such theory being consistent with Solar System tests may lead to the known universe history sequence: inflation, radiation/matter dominance and dark epoch.
Cosmological models in 1+1 dimensions are an ideal setting for investigating the quantum structure of inflationary dynamics -- gravity is renormalizable, while there is room for spatial structure not present in the minisuperspace approximation. We use this fortuitous convergence to investigate the mechanism of slow-roll eternal inflation. A variant of 1+1 Liouville gravity coupled to matter is shown to model precisely the scalar sector of cosmological perturbations in 3+1 dimensions. A particular example of quintessence in 1+1d is argued on the one hand to exhibit slow-roll eternal inflation a…
We consider the effects of fields with suddenly changing mass on the inflationary power spectra. In this context, when a field becomes light, it will be excited. This process contributes to the tensor power spectrum. We compute these effects in a gauge-invariant manner, where we use a novel analytical method for evaluating the corrections to the tensor spectrum due to these excitations. In the case of a scalar field, we show that the net impact on the tensors is small as long as the perturbative expansion is valid. Thus, in these scenarios, measurement of tensor modes is still in one-to-one co…
Inflation is studied in the context of induced gravity (IG) $γσ^2 R$, where $R$ is the Ricci scalar, $σ$ a scalar field and $γ$ a dimensionless constant. We study in detail cosmological perturbations in IG and examine both a Landau-Ginzburg (LG) and a Coleman-Weinberg (CW) potential toy models for small field and large field (chaotic) inflation and find that small field inflationary models in IG are constrained to $γ\lesssim 3 \times 10^{-3}$ by WMAP 5 yrs data. Finally we describe the regime of coherent oscillations in induced gravity by an analytic approximation, showing how the homogeneous …
We study the slow-roll inflationary dynamics in a self-gravitating induced gravity braneworld model with bulk cosmological constant. For E \gg M_{5}^{3}/M^{2}_{2} we find important corrections to the four-dimensional Friedmann equation which bring the standard chaotic inflationary scenario in closer agreement with recent observations. For λ/M^{3}_{5} \ll E \ll M^{3}_{5}/M^{2}_{4} we find five-dimensional corrections to the Friedmann equation, which give the known Randall-Sundrum results of the inflationary parameters.
We study a radion model for inflation and density perturbation identifying the scalar field arising from the five-dimensional gravity on $M_4 x S^1$ with the inflaton. The inflaton potential arising from 5D graviton and matter one-loop effects is shown to possess the desirable slow-roll property. This radion model contains only a small number of parameters and there is an ample parameter region which reproduces (without fine-tuning) all precision astrophysical data.
We discuss a new mechanism to enhance the spectrum of primordial tensor fluctuations in single field inflationary scenarios. The enhancement relies on a transitory non-attractor inflationary phase, which amplifies the would-be decaying tensor mode, and gives rise to a growth of tensor fluctuations at superhorizon scales. We show that the enhancement produced during this phase can be neatly treated via a tensor duality between an attractor and non-attractor phase, which we introduce. We illustrate the mechanism and duality in a kinetically driven scenario of inflation, with non-minimal coupling…
