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.
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…
Silk damping in the early Universe, before and during recombination, erases anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on small scales. This power, which disappears from anisotropies, appears in the monopole as y-type, i-type and μ-type distortions. The observation of the CMB spectral distortions will thus make available to us the information about the primordial power spectrum on scales corresponding to the comoving wavenumbers $8< k < 10^4 Mpc^{-1}$ increasing our total view of inflation, when combined with CMB anisotropies, to span 17 e-folds. These distortions can be understood …
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…
We have investigated inflation models that predict a very small value of the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $r$. The spectral index $n_s$, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$, are strictly constrained by the Planck data. $n_s$ and $r$ are sensitive to the shape and magnitude of the inflaton potential, respectively.The constraints by the Planck 2018 data combined with other cosmological observations are compared with the predictions from the inflation models regarding $n_s$ and $r$. Furthermore, we discuss the comparison of future tensor-to-scalar ratio data with predictions from the inflation models w…
BICEP2's detection on the primordial B-mode of CMB polarization suggests that inflation occurred around GUT scale, with the tensor-to-scalar ratio r~0.2. Inspired by this discosvery, we study the topological inflation which was driven by a double/single/no well potential. We show that with proper choice of parameters, all these three types of topological inflationary models could be consistent with the constraints from current observations.
We present a series of theoretical constraints on the potentially viable inflation models that might yield a blue spectrum for primordial tensor perturbations. By performing a detailed dynamical analysis we show that, while there exists such possibility, the corresponding phase space is strongly bounded. Our result implies that, in order to achieve a blue tilt for inflationary tensor perturbations, one may either construct a non-canonical inflation model delicately, or study the generation of primordial tensor modes beyond the standard scenario of single slow-roll field.
We consider the possibility of enhancing the inflationary tensor mode by introducing a spectator scalar field with a small sound speed which induces gravitational waves as a second order effect. We analytically obtain the power spectra of gravitational waves and curvature perturbation induced by the spectator scalar field. We found that the small sound speed amplifies the curvature perturbation much more than the tensor mode and the current observational constraint forces the induced gravitational waves to be negligible compared with those from the vacuum fluctuation during inflation.
We compute the full bispectra, namely both auto- and cross- bispectra, of primordial curvature and tensor perturbations in the most general single-field inflation model whose scalar and gravitational equations of motion are of second order. The formulae in the limits of k-inflation and potential-driven inflation are also given. These expressions are useful for estimating the full bispectra of temperature and polarization anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background radiation.
In this paper we provide an accurate bound on primordial gravitational waves, i.e. tensor-to-scalar ratio $(r)$ for a general class of single-field models of inflation where inflation occurs always below the Planck scale, and the field displacement during inflation remains sub-Planckian. If inflation has to make connection with the real particle physics framework then it must be explained within an effective field theory description where it can be trustable below the UV cut-off of the scale of gravity. We provide an analytical estimation and estimate the largest possible $r$, i.e. $r\leq 0.12…
We discuss the implications of purely classical, instead of quantum, theory of gravity for the gravitational wave spectrum generated during inflation. We show that a positive detection of primordial gravitational waves will no longer suffice to determine the scale of inflation in this case -- even a high-scale model of inflation can bypass the observational constraints due to large uncertainties in the initial classical amplitude of the tensor modes.
If a sizeable tensor-to-scalar ratio ~0.1 turns out to be detected and a negative running of the scalar spectral index ~0.01 is significantly required by the data, the vast majority of single field models of inflation will be ruled out. We show that a flat tree-level effective potential, lifted by radiative corrections and by the imprints of a high energy scale (in the form of non-renormalizable operators) can explain those features and produce enough inflation in the slow-roll regime.
We study the axionic inflation with a modulated potential and examine if the primordial tensor power spectrum exhibits oscillatory feature, which is testable with future space-based gravitational wave experiments such as DECIGO and BBO. In the case of the single-field axion monodromy inflation, it turns out that it is difficult to detect the oscillation in the spectrum due to suppression of the sub-Planckian decay constant of axion. On the other hand, in the case of aligned chromo-natural inflation where the axion is coupled to a SU(2) gauge field, it turns out that the sizable oscillation in …
The claimed detection of the BICEP2 experiment on the primordial B-mode of cosmic microwave background polarization suggests that cosmic inflation possibly takes place at the energy around the grand unified theory scale given a constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. i.e., $r\simeq 0.20$. In this report, we revisit single-field (slow-roll) composite inflation and show that, with the proper choice of parameters and sizeable number of e-foldings, a large tensor-to-scalar ratio consistent with the recent BICEP2 results can be significantly produced with regard to the composite paradigms.
The newly released Planck CMB data place tight constraints on slow-roll inflationary models. Some of commonly discussed inflationary potentials are disfavored due mainly to the large tensor-to-scalar ratio. In this paper we show that these potentials may be in good agreement with the Planck data when the inflaton has a non-minimal coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet term. Moreover, such a coupling violates the consistency relation between the tensor spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio. If the tensor spectral index is allowed to vary freely, the Planck constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio a…
We consider the inflationary universe with a spectator scalar field coupled to a $U(1)$ gauge field and calculate curvature perturbation and gravitational waves (GWs). We find that the sourced GWs can be larger than the one from vacuum fluctuation and they are statistically anisotropic as well as linearly polarized. The GW power spectrum acquires higher multipole moments as $\mathcal{P}_h \propto (1-\cos^2θ+\cos^4θ-\cos^6θ)$ irrespective of the model parameters.
We compute the phenomenological signatures of a model (Watanabe et al' 09) of anisotropic inflation driven by a scalar and a vector field. The action for the vector is U(1) invariant, and the model is free of ghost instabilities. A suitable coupling of the scalar to the kinetic term of the vector allows for a slow roll evolution of the vector vev, and hence for a prolonged anisotropic expansion; this provides a counter example to the cosmic no hair conjecture. We compute the nonvanishing two point correlation functions between physical modes of the system, and express them in terms of power sp…
Predictions of inflationary schemes can be influenced by the presence of extra dimensions. This could be of particular relevance for the spectrum of gravitational waves in models where the extra dimensions provide a brane-world solution to the hierarchy problem. Apart from models of large as well as exponentially warped extra dimensions, we analyze the size of tensor modes in the Linear Dilaton scheme recently revived in the discussion of the "clockwork mechanism". The results are model dependent, significantly enhanced tensor modes on one side and a suppression on the other. In some cases we …
We categorically point out why the analysis of arXiv:1404.1821 [hep-ph] is incorrect. Here we explicitly show why the sub-Planckian field excursion of the inflaton field can yield large observable tensor-to-scalar ratio, which satisfies both Planck and BICEP constraints.
We investigate the possibility of inflation with models of antisymmetric tensor field having minimal and nonminimal couplings to gravity. Although the minimal model does not support inflation, the nonminimal models, through the introduction of a nonminimal coupling to gravity, can give rise to stable de-Sitter solutions with a bound on the coupling parameters. The values of field and coupling parameters are sub-planckian. Slow roll analysis is performed and slow-roll parameters are defined which can give the required number of e-folds for sufficient inflation. Stability analysis has been perfo…
We systematically study the renormalizable three-term polynomial inflation in the supersymmetric and non-supersymmetric models. The supersymmetric inflaton potentials can be realized in supergravity theory, and only have two independent parameters. We show that the general renormalizable supergravity model is equivalent to one kind of our supersymmetric models. We find that the spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio can be consistent with the Planck and BICEP2 results, but the running of spectral index is always out of the $2σ$ range. If we do not consider the BICEP2 experiment, these infla…
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…
According to the famous Lyth bound, one can confirm large field inflation by finding tensor modes with sufficiently large tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. Here we will try to answer two related questions: Is it possible to rule out all large field inflationary models by not finding tensor modes with $r$ above some critical value, and what can we say about the scale of inflation by measuring $r$? However, in order to answer these questions one should distinguish between two different definitions of the large field inflation and three different definitions of the scale of inflation. We will examine t…
Using an effective field theory approach to inflation, we examine novel properties of the spectrum of inflationary tensor fluctuations, that arise when breaking some of the symmetries or requirements usually imposed on the dynamics of perturbations. During single-clock inflation, time-reparameterization invariance is broken by a time-dependent cosmological background. In order to explore more general scenarios, we consider the possibility that spatial diffeomorphism invariance is also broken by effective mass terms or by derivative operators for the metric fluctuations in the Lagrangian. We in…
We investigate two approaches to non minimally coupled gravity theories which present linear inflation as attractor solution: a) the scalar-tensor theory approach, where we look for a scalar-tensor theory that would restore results of linear inflation in the strong coupling limit for any form of the non-minimal coupling to gravity of the form of $f(φ)R/2$; b) the particle physics approach, where we motivate the form of the Jordan frame potential by the loop corrections to the inflaton field. In both cases the Jordan frame potentials are modifications of the induced inflation, but instead of th…
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 show that density perturbations seeded by the inflaton can be suppressed when having additional light degrees of freedom contributing to the production of perturbations. The inflaton fluctuations affect the light field dynamics by modulating the length of the inflationary period, hence produce additional density perturbations in the post-inflationary era. Such perturbations can cancel those generated during inflation as both originate from the same inflaton fluctuations. This allows production of large gravitational waves from small-field inflation, which is normally forbidden by the Lyth b…
If observations confirm BICEP2's claim of a tensor-scalar ratio $r\approx 0.2$ on CMB scales, then the inflationary consistency relation $n_{t}=-r/8$ predicts a small negative value for the tensor spectral index $n_t$. We show that future CMB polarization experiments should be able to confirm this prediction at several sigma. We also show how to properly extend the consistency relation to solar system scales, where the primordial gravitational wave density $Ω_{gw}$ could be measured by proposed experiments such as the Big Bang Observer. This would provide a far more stringent test of the consi…
In this paper my prime objective is to explain the generation of large tensor-to-scalar ratio from the single field sub-Planckian inflationary paradigm within Randall Sundrum (RS) single braneworld scenario in a model independent fashion. By explicit computation I have shown that the effective field theory prescription of brane inflation within RS single brane setup is consistent with sub- Planckian excursion of the inflaton field, which will further generate large value of tensor-to-scalar ratio, provided the energy density for inflaton degrees of freedom is high enough compared to the brane …
In this paper, we explore a novel observational signature of gravitational corrections during slow-roll inflation. We study the coupling of the inflaton field to higher-curvature tensors in models with a minimal breaking of conformal symmetry. In that case, the most general correction to the tensor two-point function is captured by a coupling to the square of the Weyl tensor. We show that these scenarios lead to a correction to the tilt of the tensor power spectrum and hence a violation of the tensor consistency condition. We arrive at the same conclusion through an analysis in conformal pertu…
Scalar fields provide attractive modifications of pre-BBN cosmology, which have interesting implications for dark matter abundances. We analyse the effect of these modifications on the number of e-foldings between horizon exit of CMB modes and the end of inflation $(N_k)$, and examine the consequences for inflationary predictions of various models. We find significant effects in the predictions in the $(n_s, r)$ plane. For a large part of the parameter space, the shift in $N_k$ is positive; this ameliorates the tension of $m^{2} φ^{2}$ and natural inflation with data.
We investigate the scalar and tensor spectral indices of the quadratic inflation model in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld (EiBI) gravity. We find that the EiBI corrections to the spectral indices are of second and first order in the slow-roll approximation for the scalar and tensor perturbations respectively. This is very promising since the quadratic inflation model in general relativity provides a very nice fit for the spectral indices. Together with the suppression of the tensor-to-scalar ratio EiBI inflation agrees well with the observational data.
We discuss a mechanism of particle production during inflation that can result in a blue gravitational wave (GW) spectrum, compatible with the BICEP2 result and with the r < 0.11 limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio at the Planck pivot scale. The mechanism is based on the production of vector quanta from a rolling pseudo-scalar field. Both the vector and the pseudo-scalar are only gravitationally coupled to the inflaton, to keep the production of inflaton quanta at an unobservable level (the overproduction of non-gaussian scalar perturbations is a generic difficulty for mechanisms that aim to g…
Inflation as the leading paradigm depicting the very early universe physics could leave imprints on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Using currently available CMB observations, we give the tightest constraints on inflation so far. We discuss the theoretical implications of our results including the energy scale of inflation, inflaton field excursion, Hubble expansion rate during inflation, equation of state of inflation, primordial tensor non-Gaussianity, primordial tensor power spectrum, B-mode anisotropy and inflationary gravitational wave background.
Together with holonomy corrections, inverse volume terms should be taken into account when studying the primordial universe in loop quantum cosmology. We investigate how the tensor power spectrum is modified with respect to the standard general relativistic prediction by those semiclassical corrections. Depending on the values of the free parameters of the model, it is shown that the spectrum can exhibit a very large deviation from its usual shape, in particular with a very red slope and a strong running in the infrared limit.
We show that embedding Natural Inflation in a more general scalar-tensor theory, with non-minimal couplings to the Ricci scalar and the kinetic term, alleviates the current tension of Natural Inflation with observational data. The coupling functions respect the periodicity of the potential and the characteristic shift symmetry $ϕ\rightarrow ϕ+ 2πf$ of the original Natural Inflation model, and vanish at the minimum of the potential. Furthermore, showing that the theory exhibits a rescaling symmetry in the regime where the coupling to the Ricci scalar is small and the coupling to the kinetic ter…
For icosahedral inflation, we compute the tensor modes' two-point function in the presence of higher derivative corrections, and show that in general this features anisotropies that are aligned with the underlying icosahedral structure. The effect is small within the regime of validity of the effective theory, but it is the leading contribution to a mixed correlator between the two different helicities. We also estimate the magnitude of a similar effect for a mixed scalar-tensor correlator, whose detailed computation we leave for future work. Along the way, we clarify a number of aspects of th…
Inflation models make specific predictions for a tensor-scalar-scalar three-point correlation, or bispectrum, between one gravitational-wave (tensor) mode and two density-perturbation (scalar) modes. This tensor-scalar-scalar correlation leads to a local power quadrupole, an apparent departure from statistical isotropy in our Universe, as well as characteristic four-point correlations in the current mass distribution in the Universe. So far, the predictions for these observables have been worked out only for single-clock models in which certain consistency conditions between the tensor-scalar-…
We present a minimal axion inflation model which can generate a large tensor-to-scalar ratio while remaining sub-Planckian. The modulus of a complex scalar field $Φ$ with a $λ|Φ|^4$ potential couples directly to the gauge field of a strongly-coupled sector via a term of the form $(|Φ|/M_{Pl})^{m} F \tilde{F}$. This generates a minimum of the potential which is aperiodic in the phase. The resulting inflation model is equivalent to a $ϕ^{4/(m+1)}$ chaotic inflation model. For the natural case of a leading-order portal-like interaction $Φ^{\dagger}ΦF \tilde{F}$, the model is equivalent to a $ϕ^{4…
We show that generically the tensor-to-scalar ratio in large single-field inflation scenarios is bounded to be larger than $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$ for the spectral index in the range favored by observations.
We systematically show that in potential driven generalized G-inflation models, quantum corrections coming from new physics at the strong coupling scale can be avoided, while producing observable tensor modes. The effective action can be approximated by the tree level action, and as a result, these models are internally consistent, despite the fact that we introduced new mass scales below the energy scale of inflation. Although observable tensor modes are produced with sub-strong coupling scale field excursions, this is not an evasion of the Lyth bound, since the models include higher-derivati…
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 compute the spectrum of tensor perturbations in warm inflation. We find that the spectrum, besides the standard component $\propto {H^2}/{M_P^2}$ associated to the amplification of the tensor vacuum fluctuations, acquires a component $\propto {\ell_{\rm mfp}\,T^5}/{M_P^4}$, where $\ell_{\rm mfp}$ and $T$ are respectively the mean free path and the temperature of the thermal degrees of freedom. The new contribution is due to the direct production of gravitational waves by the thermal bath, and can exceed the standard one in a viable region of parameter space. This contribution is dominated b…
We study tensor modes in pure natural inflation (arXiv:1706.08522), a recently-proposed inflationary model in which an axionic inflaton couples to pure Yang-Mills gauge fields. We find that the tensor-to-scalar ratio r is naturally bounded from below. This bound originates from the finiteness of the number of metastable branches of vacua in pure Yang-Mills theories. Details of the model can be probed by future cosmic microwave background experiments and improved lattice gauge theory calculations of the theta-angle dependence of the vacuum energy.
For very general scalar-field theories in which the equations of motion are at second-order, we evaluate the three-point correlation function of primordial scalar perturbations generated during inflation. We show that the shape of non-Gaussianities is well approximated by the equilateral type. The equilateral non-linear parameter f_NL^equil is derived on the quasi de Sitter background where the slow-variation parameters are much smaller than unity. We apply our formula for f_NL^equil to a number of single-field models of inflation--such as k-inflation, k-inflation with Galileon terms, potentia…
For the constant-roll tachyon inflation, we derive the analytical expressions for the scalar and tensor power spectra, the scalar and tensor spectral tilts and the tensor to scalar ratio up to the first order by using the method of Bessel function approximation. The derived $n_s-r$ results for the constant-roll inflation are also compared with the observations, we find that only one constant-roll inflation is consistent with the observations and observations constrain the constant-roll inflation to be slow-roll inflation. The tachyon potential is also reconstructed for the constant-roll inflat…
Models of inflation with antisymmetric tensor studied in the past are plagued with ghost instability even in an unperturbed FRW background. We show that it is possible to avoid ghosts in an unperturbed FRW background by considering the most general kinetic term for antisymmetric tensor field. The kinetic part acquires a new gauge symmetry violating term whose effect on perturbed modes is to prevent the appearance of nondynamical modes, and thus avoid ghosts. For completeness, we perform a check for gradient instability and derive the conditions for perturbations to be free of gradient instabil…
In this paper we will study $R^2$-like inflation in a non-local modification of gravity which contains quadratic in Ricci scalar and Weyl tensor terms with analytic infinite derivative form-factors in the action. It is known that the inflationary solution of the local $R+R^2$ gravity remains a particular exact solution in this model. It was shown earlier that the power spectrum of scalar perturbations generated during inflation in the non-local setup remains the same as in the local $R+R^2$ inflation, whereas the power spectrum of tensor perturbations gets modified due to the non-local Weyl te…
Recently we have studied in great detail a model of Hybrid Natural Inflation (HNI) by constructing two simple effective field theories. These two versions of the model allow inflationary energy scales as small as the electroweak scale in one of them or as large as the Grand Unification scale in the other therefore covering the whole range of possible energy scales. The inflationary sector of the model is of the form $V(ϕ)=V_0 \left(1+a \cos(ϕ/f)\right)$ where $0\leq a<1$ and the end of inflation is triggered by an independent waterfall field. One interesting characteristic of this type of mode…
We study a model of inflation where the scalar perturbations are almost gaussian while there is sizable (equilateral) nongaussianity in the tensor sector. In this model, a rolling pseudoscalar gravitationally coupled to the inflaton amplifies the vacuum fluctuations of a vector field. The vector sources both scalar and tensor metric perturbations. Both kinds of perturbations are nongaussian, but, due to helicity conservation, the tensors have a larger amplitude, so that nongaussianity in the scalar perturbations is negligible. Moreover, the tensors produced this way are chiral. We study, in th…
$SU(2)$ gauge fields can generate large gravitational waves during inflation, if they are coupled to an axion which can be either the inflaton or a spectator field. The shape of the produced tensor power spectrum $\mathcal{P}_h$ depends on the form of the axion potential. We derive analytic expressions and provide general templates for $\mathcal{P}_h$ for various types of the spectator axion potential. Furthermore, we explore the detectability of the oscillatory feature, which is present in $\mathcal{P}_h$ in the case of an axion monodromy model, by possible future CMB B-mode polarization obse…
We show that the prediction for the primordial tensor power spectrum cannot be modified at leading order in derivatives. Indeed, one can always set to unity the speed of propagation of gravitational waves during inflation by a suitable disformal transformation of the metric, while a conformal one can make the Planck mass time-independent. Therefore, the tensor amplitude unambiguously fixes the energy scale of inflation. Using the Effective Field Theory of Inflation, we check that predictions are independent of the choice of frame, as expected. The first corrections to the standard prediction c…
We show how the choice of an inflationary state that entangles scalar and tensor fluctuations affects the angular two-point correlation functions of the $T$, $E$, and $B$ modes of the cosmic microwave background. The propagators for a state starting with some general quadratic entanglement are solved exactly, leading to predictions for the primordial scalar-scalar, tensor-tensor, and scalar-tensor power spectra. These power spectra are expressed in terms of general functions that describe the entangling structure of the initial state relative to the standard Bunch-Davies vacuum. We illustrate …
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 investigate the tensor perturbation in the inflation model driven by a massive-scalar field in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity. For short wave-length modes, the perturbation feature is very similar to that of the usual chaotic inflation. For long wave-length modes, the perturbation exhibits a peculiar rise in the power spectrum which may leave a signature in the cosmic microwave background radiation.