Stochastic inflation describes the global structure of the inflationary universe by modeling the super-Hubble dynamics as a system of matter fields coupled to gravity where the sub-Hubble field fluctuations induce a stochastic force into the equations of motion. The super-Hubble dynamics are ultralocal, allowing us to neglect spatial derivatives and treat each Hubble patch as a separate universe. This provides a natural framework in which to discuss probabilities on the space of solutions and initial conditions. In this article we derive an evolution equation for this probability for an arbitrary class of matter systems, including DBI and k-inflationary models, and discover equilibrium solutions that satisfy detailed balance. Our results are more general than those derived assuming slow roll or a quasi-de Sitter geometry, and so are directly applicable to models that do not satisfy the usual slow roll conditions. We discuss in general terms the conditions for eternal inflation to set in, and we give explicit numerical solutions of highly stochastic, quasi-stationary trajectories in the relativistic DBI regime. Finally, we show that the probability for stochastic/thermal tunneling can be significantly enhanced relative to the Hawking-Moss instanton result due to relativistic DBI effects.
We study a two-parameter family of exactly solvable inflation models with variable sound speed, and derive a corresponding exact expression for the spectrum of curvature perturbations. We generalize this expression to the slow roll case, and derive an approximate expression for the scalar spectral index valid to second order in slow roll. We apply the result to the case of DBI inflation, and show that for certain choices of slow roll parameters, the Bunch-Davies limit (a) does not exist, or (b) is sensitive to stringy physics in the bulk, which in principle can have observable signatures in th…
We analyze the trajectories for multifield DBI inflation, which can arise in brane inflation models, and show that the trajectories are the same as in typical slow roll inflation. We calculate the power spectrum and find that the higher derivative terms of the DBI action lead to a suppression of the contribution from the isocurvature perturbations. We also calculate the bispectrum generated by the isocurvature perturbation, and find that it leads to distinctive features.
In Dirac-Born-Infeld inflation, changes in the sound speed that transiently break the slow roll approximation lead to features in the power spectrum. We develop and test the generalized slow roll approximation for calculating such effects and show that it can be extended to treat order unity features. As in slow-roll, model independent constraints on the potential of canonical inflation can be directly reinterpreted in the DBI context through this approximation. In particular, a sharp horizon scale step in the warped brane tension can explain oscillatory features in the WMAP7 CMB power spectru…
In the present paper, we aim to generalize the constant-roll inflation in the non-canonical set-up, particularly in the context of scalar Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) theory which has emerged to be prospective candidate for describing inflation in the realm of string theory and in general permits time dependent speed of sound. Assuming the simplest case, when the speed of sound of scalar fluctuations is constant but different from unity, we obtain exact inflationary solutions and corresponding solutions of warp factors under constant-roll conditions. In this scenario, the inflationary solution is f…
We show a model-independent fine-tuning issue in the DBI inflationary mechanism. DBI inflation requires a warp factor h small enough to sufficiently slow down the inflaton. On the other hand, the Einstein equation in extra dimensions under the inflationary background deforms the warp space in the IR side. Generically these two locations coincide with each other, spoiling the DBI inflation. The origin and tuning of this ``h-problem'' is closely related, through the AdS/CFT duality, to those of the well-known ``eta-problem'' in the slow-roll inflationary mechanism.
One possibility for identifying the inflaton in the framework of string theory is that it is a $D$-brane modulus. This option involves a specific, non-canonical form of the kinetic energy -- the Dirac-Born-Infeld action. This note investigates the applicability of the slow roll approximation in inflationary models of this type. To this end the slow roll expansion of Liddle, Parsons and Barrow is derived for the case of the DBI action. The resulting slow roll conditions augment the standard ones valid in the case of canonical kinetic terms. It is also shown that in DBI models inflation does not…
We propose a novel inflationary scenario in string theory in which the inflaton field is a 'Wilson line' degree of freedom in the worldvolume of a probe Dp-brane, in a warped flux compactification. Kinetic terms for Wilson line fields on the world volume of a D-brane take a nonstandard Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) form. Thus, we work in the framework of DBI inflation. This extends the original slow roll Wilson line inflationary scenario, where only the quadratic piece was considered. Warped DBI Wilson line inflation offers an attractive alternative to ordinary (position field) DBI inflation, inasmu…
We consider a model of two-field inflation, containing an ordinary scalar field and a DBI field. We work beyond the slow-roll approximation, but we assume a separable Hubble parameter. We then derive the form of potential in this framework and study the spectrum of the primordial perturbations in details. We also study the amplitude of the non-Gaussianity of the primordial perturbations both in equilateral and orthogonal configurations in this setup. We test the model with recent observational data and find some constraints on the model parameters. Our study shows that for some ranges of the D…
We analyze the spectrum of density perturbations generated in models of the recently discovered "D-cceleration" mechanism of inflation. In this scenario, strong coupling quantum field theoretic effects sum to provide a DBI-like action for the inflaton. We show that the model has a strict lower bound on the non-Gaussianity of the CMBR power spectrum at an observable level, and is thus falsifiable. This in particular observationally distinguishes this mechanism from traditional slow roll inflation generated by weakly interacting scalar fields. The model also favors a large observable tensor comp…
We study a possible amplification mechanism for the curvature perturbations generated during inflation by a Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflaton in the presence of a sharp feature in the warp factor. The large growth resulting in the scalar power spectrum is a consequence of the decreasing speed of sound. We obtain analytical approximate expressions for the relevant dynamical quantities both in the slow roll phase and during the transient phase which leads to the amplification. We finally compare our approximations to the exact numerical evolution and give, in such a context, the general rules for…
We compute the tree-level connected four-point function of the primordial curvature perturbation for a fairly general minimally coupled single field inflationary model, where the inflaton's Lagrangian is a general function of the scalar field and its first derivatives. This model includes K-inflation and DBI-inflation as particular cases. We show that, at the leading order in the slow-roll expansion and in the small sound speed limit, there are two important tree-level diagrams for the trispectrum. One is a diagram where a scalar mode is exchanged and the other is a diagram where the interacti…
In this paper, we show that eternal inflation of the random walk type is generically absent in the brane inflationary scenario. Depending on how the brane inflationary universe originated, eternal inflation of the false vacuum type is still quite possible. Since the inflaton is the position of the D3-brane relative to the anti-D3-brane inside the compactified bulk with finite size, its value is bounded. In DBI inflation, the warped space also restricts the amplitude of the scalar fluctuation. These upper bounds impose strong constraints on the possibility of eternal inflation. We find that ete…
The scalar-tensor Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflation scenario provides a simple mechanism to reduce the large values of the boost factor associated with single field models with DBI action, whilst still being able to drive 60 efolds of inflation. Using a slow-roll approach, we obtain an analytical expression for the spectral index of the perturbations and, moreover, determine numerically the regions of the parameter space of the model capable of giving rise to a power spectrum with amplitude and spectral index within the observed bounds. We find that regions that exhibit significant DBI effects…
We show that higher-order actions for cosmological perturbations in the multi-field DBI-inflation model are obtained by a Lorentz boost from the rest frame of the brane to the frame where the brane is moving. We confirm that this simple method provides the same third- and fourth- order actions at leading order in slow-roll and in the small sound speed limit as those obtained by the usual ADM formalism. As an application, we compute the leading order connected four-point function of the primordial curvature perturbation coming from the intrinsic fourth-order contact interaction in the multi-fie…
We study the non-gaussianity from the bispectrum in multi-field inflation models with a general kinetic term. The models include the multi-field K-inflation and the multi-field Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflation as special cases. We find that, in general, the sound speeds for the adiabatic and entropy perturbations are different and they can be smaller than 1. Then the non-gaussianity can be enhanced. The multi-field DBI-inflation is shown to be a special case where both sound speeds are the same due to a special form of the kinetic term. We derive the exact second and third order actions inclu…
We study the phase space of initial conditions for brane inflation, and find that including the effects of the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) kinetic term dramatically improves previous estimates on the amount of fine tuning of initial conditions necessary for inflation, even for models dominated by slow roll. Two effects turn out to be important for the phase space analysis: restrictions on the total available phase space due to UV effects in brane inflation, and the extension of the inflationary attractor to the DBI inflationary regime. We compare the amount of initial conditions fine tuning requir…
We derive a microscopic bound on the maximal field variation of the inflaton during warped D-brane inflation. By a result of Lyth, this implies an upper limit on the amount of gravitational waves produced during inflation. We show that a detection at the level $r > 0.01$ would falsify slow roll D-brane inflation. In DBI inflation, detectable tensors may be possible in special compactifications, provided that $r$ decreases rapidly during inflation. We also show that for the special case of DBI inflation with a quadratic potential, current observational constraints imply strong upper bounds on t…
It is generally believed that in single-field slow-roll inflation, a large tensor-to-scalar ratio $r > 0.1$ requires inflaton field values close to or above the Planck scale. Recently, it has been claimed that $r > 0.15$ can be achieved with much smaller inflaton field values $Δϕ< M_{Pl}/10$. We show that in single-field slow-roll inflation, it is impossible to reconcile $r > 0.1$ with such small field values, independently of the form of the potential, and that the recent claim to the contrary is based on an invalid approximation. We conclude that the result of the BICEP2 measurement of $r > …
We study brane inflation in flux compactifications at the nonlinear level, solving the D3-brane DBI-equations of motion including backreaction from the D3-D7 brane potential and from perturbations of the warp factor. We first numerically compute the exact functional form of the Kaehler modulus valid on the entire supergravity background and obtain a two-field potential along radial and harmonic directions. We find that a valid perturbative expansion on the entire supergravity background with the Kaehler modulus integrated out adiabatically in DBI inflation requires hierarchies of scales that d…
We investigate non-Gaussianity in general single field models without assuming slow-roll conditions or the exact scale-invariance of the scalar power spectrum. The models considered include general single field inflation (e.g. DBI and canonical inflation) as well as bimetric models. We compute the full non-Gaussian amplitude, its size fnl, its shape, and the running with scale n_{NG}. In doing so we show that observational constraints allow significant violations of slow roll conditions and we derive explicit bounds on slow-roll parameters for fast-roll single field scenarios. A variety of new…
We identify a two-parameter family of excited states within slow-roll inflation for which either the corrections to the two-point function or the characteristic signatures of excited states in the three-point function -- i.e. the enhancement for the flattened momenta configurations-- are absent. These excited states may nonetheless violate the adiabaticity condition maximally. We dub these initial states of inflation calm excited states. We show that these two sets do not intersect, i.e., those that leave the power-spectrum invariant can be distinguished from their bispectra, and vice versa. T…
An analysis is given of inflation based on a supersymmetric Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action in an axionic landscape. The DBI model we discuss involves a landscape of chiral superfields with one $U(1)$ shift symmetry which is broken by instanton type non-perturbative terms in the superpotential. Breaking of the shift symmetry leads to one pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone-boson which acts as the inflaton while the remaining normalized phases of the chiral fields generically labeled axions are invariant under the $U(1)$ shift symmetry. The analysis is carried out in the vacuum with stabilized saxions, which…
Canonical models of single-field, slow-roll inflation do not lead to appreciable non-Gaussianity, unless derivative interactions of the inflaton become uncontrollably large. We propose a novel slow-roll scenario where scalar perturbations propagate at a subluminal speed, leading to sizeable equilateral non-Gaussianity, $f^{\rm equil}_{\rm NL}\propto 1/c_s^4$, largely insensitive to the ultraviolet physics. The model is based on a low-energy effective theory characterized by weakly broken invariance under internal galileon transformations, $ϕ\toϕ+b_μx^μ$, which protects the properties of pertur…
We study the de Sitter (dS) swampland conjecture in the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflation model. We obtain the dS swampland bound for the relativistic regime using Bousso's entropy bound argument and proper distance. It restricts $m_{\rm Pl}\nabla V/V$ by some positive constant depending on warping and the field range. In the specific case of the DBI model driven by the quadratic potential, the model-dependent backreaction argument is interpreted as a natural bound for the slow-roll parameter. This shows that quasi-dS spacetime in the DBI model is a result of tuning.
Nongaussian statistics are a powerful discriminant between inflationary models, particularly those with noncanonical kinetic terms. Focusing on theories where the Lagrangian is an arbitrary Lorentz-invariant function of a scalar field and its first derivatives, we review and extend the calculation of the observable three-point function. We compute the "next-order" slow-roll corrections to the bispectrum in closed form, and obtain quantitative estimates of their magnitude in DBI and power-law k-inflation. In the DBI case our results enable us to estimate corrections from the shape of the potent…
We study a model of multiple-field DBI inflation leading to mixed form of primordial non-Gaussianity, including equilateral and local bispectrum shapes. We present a general formalism based on the Hamilton-Jacobi approach, allowing us to go beyond slow-roll, combining the three-point function for the fields at Hubble-exit with the non-linear evolution of super-Hubble scales. We are able to obtain analytic results by taking a separable Ansatz for the Hubble rate. We find general expressions for both the equilateral and local type non-Gaussianity parameter fNL. The equilateral non-Gaussianity in…
We reconsider the toy model studied in [1] of a spatially closed Friedmann-Lemaitre universe, driven by a massive scalar field, which deflates quasi-exponentially, bounces and then enters a period of standard inflation. We find that the equations for the matter density perturbations can be solved analytically, at least at lowest order in some "slow-roll" parameter. We can therefore give, in that limit, the explicit spectrum of the post-bounce perturbations in terms of their pre-bounce initial spectrum. Our result is twofold. If the pre-bounce growing and decaying modes are of the same order of…
While moving down the potential on its classical slow roll trajectory, the inflaton field is subject to quantum jumps, which take it up or down the potential at random. In "stochastic inflation", the impact of these quantum jumps is modeled by smoothing out the field over (at least) Hubble-patch sized domains and treating fluctuations on smaller scales as noise. The inflaton thus becomes a stochastic process whose values at a given time are calculated using its probability distribution. We generalize this approach for non-canonic kinetic terms of Dirac Born Infeld (DBI) type and investigate th…
We show that curvature perturbations acquire a scale invariant spectrum for any constant equation of state, provided the fluid has a suitably time-dependent sound speed. In order for modes to exit the physical horizon, and in order to solve the usual problems of standard big bang cosmology, we argue that the only allowed possibilities are inflationary (albeit not necessarily slow-roll) expansion or ekpyrotic contraction. Non-Gaussianities offer many distinguish features. As usual with a small sound speed, non-Gaussianity can be relatively large, around current sensitivity levels. For DBI-like …
The eta problem is one of the most significant obstacles to building a successful inflationary model in string theory. Planck mass suppressed corrections to the inflaton potential generally lead to inflaton masses of order the Hubble scale and generate contributions of order unity to the eta slow roll parameter rendering prolonged slow roll inflation impossible. We demonstrate the severity of this problem in the context of brane anti-brane inflation in a warped throat of a Calabi-Yau flux compactification with all phenomenologically dangerous moduli stabilized. Using exact numerical solutions …
We study the structure of two-point correlators of the inflationary field fluctuations in order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the existing methods to calculate primordial spectra. We present a description motivated by the separation of the fast and slow evolving components of the spectrum which is based on Cholesky decomposition of the field correlator matrix. Our purpose is to rewrite all the relevant equations of motion in terms of slowly varying quantities. This is important in order to consider the contribution from high-frequency modes to the spectrum without affecting computa…
We study the motion of a (space filling) D3-brane at the tip of a warped deformed conifold, looking for inflationary trajectories. In our setup no anti D3-brane is present and the inflaton potential is induced by threshold corrections to the superpotential. First we study the slow roll regime and find that, allowing for fine tuning, hilltop inflation compatible with CMB data can take place. Then we consider the DBI regime and formulate a necessary condition for a phenomenologically viable inflationary stage. En passant, we propose a mechanism to cancel the large inflaton mass in the standard r…
The advent of explicit Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflationary models within string theory has drawn renewed interest to the cosmological role of unusual scalar field dynamics, usually referred to as k-inflation. In this situation, the standard method used to determine the behavior of cosmological perturbations breaks down. We present a generic method, based on the uniform approximation, to analytically derive the power spectra of scalar and tensor perturbations. For this purpose, a simple hierarchy of parameters, related to the sound speed of the cosmological fluctuations and its successive deri…
In certain implementations of the brane inflationary paradigm, the exit from inflation occurs when the branes annihilate through tachyon condensation. We investigate various cosmological effects produced by this tachyonic era. We find that only a very small region of the parameter space (corresponding to slow-roll with tiny inflaton mass) allows for the tachyon to contribute some e-folds to inflation. In addition, non-adiabatic density perturbations are generated at the end of inflation. When the brane is moving relativistically this contribution can be of the same order as fluctuations produc…
We examine the covariant properties of generalized models of two-field inflation, with non-canonical kinetic terms and a possibly non-trivial field metric. We demonstrate that kinetic-term derivatives and covariant field derivatives do commute in a proper covariant framework, which was not realized before in the literature. We also define a set of generalized slow-roll parameters, using a unified notation. Within this framework, we study the most general class of models that allows for well-defined adiabatic and entropic sound speeds, which we identify as the models with parallel momentum and …
Imposing that the excursion distance of inflaton in field space during inflation be less than the Planck scale, we derive an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio at the CMB scales, i.e. $r_{*,max}$, in the general canonical single-field slow-roll inflation model, in particular the model with non-negligible running of the spectral index $α_s$ and/or the running of running $β_s$. We find that $r_{*,max}\simeq 7\times 10^{-4}$ for $n_s=0.9645$ without running and running of running, and $r_{*,max}$ is significantly relaxed to the order of ${\cal O}(10^{-2}\sim 10^{-1})$ in the inflation mode…
We consider mechanisms for producing a significant population of primordial black holes (PBHs) within string inspired single field models of inflation. The production of PBHs requires a large amplification in the power spectrum of curvature perturbations between scales associated with CMB and PBH formation. In principle, this can be achieved by temporarily breaking the slow-roll conditions during inflation. In this work, we identify two string setups that can realise this process. In string axion models of inflation, subleading non-perturbative effects can superimpose steep cliffs and gentle p…
Primordial black-holes (PBH) can be produced in single-field models of inflation with a quasi-inflection point in the potential. In these models, a large production of PBHs requires a deviation from the slow-roll (SR) trajectory. In turn, this SR violation can produce an exponential growth of quantum fluctuations. We study the back-reaction of these quantum modes on the inflationary dynamics using stochastic inflation in the Hamilton-Jacobi formalism. We develop a methodology to solve quantum diffusion beyond SR in terms of the statistical moments of the probability distribution. We apply thes…
Witten-O'Raifeartaigh potential revisited in the context of Warm Inflation
Ashoka University（阿肖卡大学）；University of Nottingham（诺丁汉大学）；Institute for Basic Science (IBS)（基础科学研究院）；Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics（大学间天文学与天体物理学中心）
We study the cosmological implications of including angular motion in the DBI brane inflation scenario. The non-canonical kinetic terms of the Dirac-Born-Infeld action give an interesting alternative to slow roll inflation, and cycling branes can drive periods of accelerated expansion in the Universe. We present explicit numerical solutions demonstrating brane inflation in the Klebanov-Strassler throat. We find that demanding sufficient inflation takes place in the throat is in conflict with keeping the brane's total energy low enough so that local gravitational backreaction on the Calabi-Yau …
New Ekpyrotic Cosmology is an alternative scenario of the early universe which relies on a phase of slow contraction before the big bang. We calculate the 3-point and 4-point correlation functions of primordial density perturbations and find a generically large non-Gaussian signal, just below the current sensitivity level of CMB experiments. This is in contrast with slow-roll inflation, which predicts negligible non-Gaussianity. The model is also distinguishable from alternative inflationary scenarios that yield large non-Gaussianity, such as DBI inflation and the simplest curvaton-like models…
The vacuum $R^2$ model is known to generate a quasi-de Sitter evolution for inflation, using solely the slow-roll assumptions. Using standard reconstruction techniques, we demonstrate that the $f(R)$ gravity which actually realizes the quasi-de Sitter evolution is not simply the $R^2$ model but a deformed $R^2$ model which contains extra terms in addition to the $R^2$ model. We analyze in detail the inflationary dynamics of the deformed $R^2$ model and we demonstrate that the predictions are quite close to the ones of the pure $R^2$ model, regardless the values of the free parameters. Basicall…
We study the dependence on configuration in momentum space of the primordial 3-point function of density perturbations in several different scenarios: standard slow-roll inflation, curvaton and variable decay models, ghost inflation, models with higher derivative operators and the DBI model of inflation. We define a cosine between the distributions using a measure based on the ability of experiments to distinguish between them. We find that models fall into two broad categories with fairly orthogonal distributions. Models where non-Gaussianity is created at horizon-crossing during inflation an…
In canonical scalar field inflation, the Starobinsky model (with a linear potential but discontinuous slope) is remarkable in that though slow-roll is violated, both the power-spectrum and bi-spectrum can be calculated exactly analytically. The two-point function is characterised by different power on large and small scales, and a burst of small amplitude superimposed oscillations in between. Motivated by string-theory models with stuck branes, we extend this analysis to Dirac Born Infeld (DBI) inflation, for which generalised slow-roll is violated at the discontinuity and a rapid variation in…
We reconsider the derivation of soft theorems associated with nonlinearly-realized symmetries in cosmology. Utilizing the path integral, we derive a generalized consistency relation that relates a squeezed $(N+1)$-point correlation function to an $N$-point function, where the relevant soft mode is at early rather than late time. This generalized (early-late-time) version has wider applicability than the standard consistency relation where all modes are evaluated at late times. We elucidate the conditions under which the latter follows from the former. A key ingredient is the physical mode cond…
The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) constraints on string inspired ''brane inflation'' are investigated. Here, the inflaton field is interpreted as the distance between two branes placed in a flux-enriched background geometry and has a Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) kinetic term. Our method relies on an exact numerical integration of the inflationary power spectra coupled to a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo exploration of the parameter space. This analysis is valid for any perturbative value of the string coupling constant and of the string length, and includes a phenomenological modelling of t…
We investigate a bounce inflation model with a graceful exit into the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) decelerated Universe within $f(T)$ gravity framework, where $T$ is the torsion scalar in the teleparallelism. We study the cosmic thermal evolution, the model predicts a supercold Universe during the precontraction phase, which is consistent with the requirements of the slow-roll models, while it performs a reheating period by the end of the contraction with a maximum temperature just below the grand unified theory (GUT) temperature. However, it matches the radiation temperature of the hot bi…
