Within the framework of the scalar-tensor theory we consider a hill-climbing inflation, in which the effective Planck mass increases in time. We obtain the Einstein frame potential with infinitely long and flat plateau as we approach towards the strong coupling regime, together with a run-away vacuum in the GR limit of the theory. The inflation ends with the scalar field rolling down towards infinity, which at the effective level indicates the massless scalar field domination in the Universe. In this scheme we assume that the inflaton is a dark particle, which has no couplings to the Standard Model degrees of freedom (other than the gravitational ones). We discuss the gravitational reheating of the Universe together with its implications on the predictions of the model, including possible amplification of primordial gravitational waves. Our model for the first time realizes explicitly the enhancement of the primordial gravitational waves in the dark inflation scenario.
In this work we re-investigate pros and cons of mutated hilltop inflation. Applying Hamilton-Jacobi formalism we solve inflationary dynamics and find that inflation goes on along the ${\cal W}_{-1}$ branch of the Lambert function. Depending on the model parameter mutated hilltop model renders two types of inflationary solutions: one corresponds to small inflaton excursion during observable inflation and the other describes large field inflation. The inflationary observables from curvature perturbation are in tune with the current data for a wide range of the model parameter. The small field br…
We propose a model of inflation with a suitable potential for a single scalar field which falls in the wide class of hilltop inflation. We derive the analytical expressions for most of the physical quantities related to inflation and show that all of them represent the true behavior as required from a model of inflation. We further subject the results to observational verification by formulating the theory of perturbations based on our model followed by an estimation for the values of those observable parameters. Our model is found to be in excellent agreement with observational data. Thus, th…
We propose a realization of cosmic inflation with the Higgs field when the Higgs potential has degenerate vacua by employing the recently proposed idea of hillclimbing inflation. The resultant inflationary predictions exhibit a sizable deviation from those of the ordinary Higgs inflation.
Recently a new inflationary scenario was proposed in arXiv:1703.09020 which can be applicable to an inflaton having multiple vacua. In this letter, we consider a more general situation where the inflaton potential has a (UV) saddle point around the Planck scale. This class of models can be regarded as a natural generalization of the hillclimbing Higgs inflation (arXiv:1705.03696).
In this work, we consider a hilltop version of the (supersymmetric) sneutrino hybrid inflation where the right-handed sneutrino field plays the role of the inflaton field. This model is a type III hilltop inflation that can produce a spectral index $n_s=0.96$ which fits perfectly to experimental observations without fine-tuning of parameters. We also briefly consider nonthermal leptogenesis via the decay of the right-handed sneutrino inflaton field after inflation.
In 'hilltop inflation', inflation takes place when the inflaton field slowly rolls from close to a maximum of its potential (i.e. the 'hilltop') towards its minimum. When the inflaton potential is associated with a phase transition, possible topological defects produced during this phase transition, such as domain walls, are efficiently diluted during inflation. It is typically assumed that they also do not reform after inflation, i.e. that the inflaton field stays on its side of the 'hill', finally performing damped oscillations around the minimum of the potential. In this paper we study the …
The scale of small-field inflation cannot be constrained via primordial gravitational waves through measurement of tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. In this study, I show that if cosmic strings are produced after symmetry breaking at the end of hilltop supernatural inflation, this small-field inflation model can be tested through the production of gravitational waves from cosmic strings. Future experiments of gravitational wave detectors will determine or further constrain the parameter space in the model.
In this paper, we investigate the parameter space in the framework of hilltop supernatural inflation in which the inflaton field can play the role of Affleck-Dine field to produce successful baryogenesis. The suitable value of reheating temperature could coincide with the reheating temperature required to produce lightest supersymmetric particle dark matter. The baryon isocurvature perturbation is shown to be negligible. We consider $p=3$, $p=4$, and $p=6$ type III hilltop inflation and discuss how to connect the models to supersymmetric theories.
Consistency relations for chaotic inflation with a monomial potential and natural inflation and hilltop inflation are given which involve the scalar spectral index $n_s$, the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and the running of the spectral index $α$. The measurement of $α$ with $O(10^{-3})$ and the improvement in the measurement of $n_s$ could discriminate monomial model from natural/hilltop inflation models. A consistency region for general large field models is also presented.
We consider eternal inflation in hilltop-type inflation models, favored by current data, in which the scalar field in inflation rolls off of a local maximum of the potential. Unlike chaotic or plateau-type inflation models, in hilltop inflation the region of field space which supports eternal inflation is finite, and the expansion rate $H_{EI}$ during eternal inflation is almost exactly the same as the expansion rate $H_*$ during slow roll inflation. Therefore, in any given Hubble volume, there is a finite and calculable expectation value for the lifetime of the "eternal" inflation phase, duri…
Primordial magnetic field generated in the inflationary era can act as a viable source for the present day intergalactic magnetic field of sufficient strength. We present a fundamental origin for such a primordial generation of the magnetic field, namely through anomaly cancellation of $U(1)$ gauge field in quantum electrodynamics in the context of hilltop inflation. We have analysed at length the power spectrum of the magnetic field, thus generated, which turns out to be helical in nature. We have also found that magnetic power spectrum has significant scale-dependence giving rise to a non-tr…
State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics, Tsung-Dao Lee Institute and School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院、李政道研究所暗物质全国重点实验室）；Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (MOE), and Shanghai Key Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学粒子天体物理与宇宙学教育部重点实验室、上海粒子物理与宇宙学重点实验室）；School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Southampton（南安普顿大学物理与天文学院）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia “Galileo Galilei”, Università degli Studi di Padova（帕多瓦大学伽利略·伽利莱物理与天文系）；INFN, Sezione di Padova（意大利国家核物理研究所帕多瓦分部）；School of Fundamental Physics and Mathematical Sciences, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS（中国科学院大学杭州高等研究院基础科学与数学学院）
We implement a procedure by which the parameters present in the potential of Quartic Hilltop Inflation (QHI) are eliminated in favor of the scalar spectral index $n_s$ and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. By doing this it is posible to obtain in a straightforward and simple way the equations of a previous analysis where an analytical treatment of QHI in the large field limit is given. This procedure also allows a more precise discussion of general properties of the model. Also, using a constraint from the reheating epoch it is possible to find bounds for the parameters of the model as well as f…
In this paper, we consider high scale (100 TeV) supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking and realize the idea of hilltop supernatural inflation in concrete particle physics models based on flipped-SU(5) and Pati-Salam models in the framework of supersymmetric grand unified theories (SUSY GUTs). The inflaton can be a flat direction including right-handed sneutrino and the waterfall field is a GUT Higgs. The spectral index is $n_s=0.96$ which fits very well with recent data by PLANCK satellite. There is no both thermal and non-thermal gravitino problems. Non-thermal leptogenesis can be resulted from the de…
We propose a scenario to flatten inflaton potential for a small-field slow-roll inflation from the origin. In the scenario, inflaton mass-square gets through a renormalization group running which depends on not only inflaton field but also an assisting field. Thanks to the assisting field participating in the running, initial condition for a slow-roll inflation can be set naturally, and inflaton potential can be flattened by the vacuum expectation value of the field. Applying this idea, we propose a scenario of inflation, dubbed here as \textit{assisted hilltop inflation}, which is free from t…
Oscillons are spatially localized and relatively stable field fluctuations which can form after inflation under suitable conditions. In order to reheat the universe, the fields which dominate the energy density after inflation have to couple to other degrees of freedom and finally produce the matter particles present in the universe today. In this study, we use lattice simulations in 2+1 dimensions to investigate how such couplings can affect the formation and stability of oscillons. We focus on models of hilltop inflation, where we have recently shown that hill crossing oscillons generically …
We propose a class of models of supersymmetric hilltop inflation (also called "new inflation") where the initial conditions of the inflaton close to the hilltop are generated through "matter field preinflation". This is achieved via a coupling term between the inflaton and matter fields (i.e. Standard Model fields or a right-handed neutrino). The same coupling also opens up a decay channel for the inflaton into Standard Model fields, which allows efficient reheating of the universe. We discuss the multifield dynamics of the inflaton and matter fields during inflation using the delta N formalis…
We study preheating after hilltop inflation where the inflaton couples to another scalar field, e.g. a right-handed sneutrino, which provides a mechanism for generating the correct initial conditions for inflation and also a decay channel for the inflaton that allows for reheating and non-thermal leptogenesis. In the presence of such a coupling, we find that after the phases of tachyonic preheating and tachyonic oscillations, during which the inflaton field becomes inhomogeneous, there can be a subsequent preheating phase where the fluctuations of the other field get resonantly enhanced, from …
We investigate the rich nonlinear dynamics during the end of hilltop inflation by numerically solving the coupled Klein-Gordon-Friedmann equations in a expanding universe. In particular, we search for coherent, nonperturbative configurations that may emerge due to the combination of nontrivial couplings between the fields and resonant effects from the cosmological expansion. We couple a massless field to the inflaton to investigate its effect on the existence and stability of coherent configurations and the effective equation of state at reheating. For parameters consistent with data from the …
The recent BICEP2 report on the CMB B-mode polarization hints an early Universe energy density at the GUT scale. We add a new 'chaoton' term to our recently proposed hilltop potential to have a large tensor mode fluctuation. The chaoton field slides down from the hilltop when the inflaton field value is small so that an enough e-folding is possible. We also comment how the trans-Planckian decay constant is obtained from some discrete symmetries of ultra-violet completed models.
We discuss how the non-minimal coupling $ξϕ^2R$ between the inflaton and the Ricci scalar affects the predictions of single field inflation models where the inflaton has a non-zero vacuum expectation value (VEV) $v$ after inflation. We show that, for inflaton values both above the VEV and below the VEV during inflation, under certain conditions the inflationary predictions become approximately the same as the predictions of the Starobinsky model. We then analyze inflation with double-well and Coleman-Weinberg potentials in detail, displaying the regions in the $v$-$ξ$ plane for which the spect…
In this work, we studied the slow-roll approximation of cosmic inflation within the context of $f(R,T)$ gravity, where $R$ is the scalar curvature, and $T$ is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. By choosing a minimal coupling between matter and gravity, we obtained the modified slow-roll parameters, the scalar spectral index ($n_s$), the tensor spectral index ($n_{\textrm{T}}$), and the tensor-to-scalar ratio ($r$). We computed these quantities for a general power-law potential, Natural & Quartic Hilltop inflation, and the Starobinsky model, plotting the trajectories on the $(n_s,r)$ plan…
We show explicitly how the T model, E model, and Hilltop inflations are obtained from the general scalar-tensor theory of gravity with arbitrary conformal factors in the strong coupling limit. We argue that $ξ$ attractors can give any observables $n_s$ and $r$ by this method. The existence of attractors imposes a challenge to distinguish different models.
We consider a cosmological inflation with two inflatons, $ϕ$ and $X$. The inflation potential is a hilltop form in the $ϕ$ space and $X$ is a sideway down-fall field in the region $ϕ\ge m$. In this model, we calculate the $e$-fold number numerically starting from the intitial point which is in the vicinity of the hilltop point. Firstly, by varying parameters and initial conditions the inflaton path field $φ$ for the BICEP2 point, $φ_{\rm BCP2}$, is found to give $ n_s\simeq 0.96$ and $r\simeq 0.16$. Next, from the point $φ_{\rm BCP2}$ to the end of inflation the e-fold number is obtained. We f…
Constraining non-minimally coupled squared-Quartic Hilltop Inflation in light of ACT observations
Faculty of Science and Technology, Nakhon Si Thammarat Rajabhat University（那空沙他马拉差帕大学理学院）；Urgench State University（乌尔根奇国立大学）；School of Science & College of Graduate Studies, Walailak University（瓦莱拉克大学理学院及研究生院）
There are many single field inflationary models that are consistent with the recent Planck 2018 measurements of the spectral index $n_s$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. Despite good agreement with observational data some of these models suffer from having unregularized potentials which would produce a collapsing universe shortly after the end of inflation. In this paper we show that how one chooses to correct the behaviour potential towards the end of inflation can have a significant effect on the inflationary predictions of the model, specifically in the case of quartic hilltop and radiativel…
We propose a novel scenario of inflation, in which the inflaton is identified as the lightest mode of an angular field in a compactified fifth dimension. The periodic effective potential exhibits exponentially flat plateaus, so that a sub-Planckian field excursion without hilltop initial conditions is naturally realized. We can obtain consistent predictions with observations on the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio.
In order to generate more than 60 e-folds of accelerated expansion in original hybrid inflation, 2-fields trajectories are usually required to be initially fine-tuned in a very narrow band along the inflationary valley or in some isolated points outside it. From a more precise investigation of the dynamics, these points which can cover a non-negligible proportion of the space of sub-planckian initial field values, depending on the potential parameters, are shown to be organised in connected domains with fractal boundaries. They correspond to trajectories first falling towards the bottom of the…
By means of Bayesian techniques, we study how a premature ending of inflation, motivated by geometrical destabilization, affects the observational evidences of typical inflationary models. Large field models are worsened, and inflection point potentials are drastically improved for a specific range of the field-space curvature characterizing the geometrical destabilization. For other models we observe shifts in the preferred values of the model parameters. For quartic hilltop models for instance, contrary to the standard case, we find preference for theoretically natural sub-Planckian hill wid…
The emergent model in the context of loop quantum cosmology with a tachyon scalar field is studied. We find that there is a center equilibrium point in the semiclassical region and a saddle point in the classical region. If the potential of the tachyon field satisfies some conditions, the universe can stay at the center equilibrium point past-eternally and then oscillate infinitely around this point with the tachyon climbing up its potential. Once the potential reaches a critical value, these two equilibrium points coincide with each other and the oscillation phase is broken by an emergent inf…
We investigate all single-field, slow-roll inflationary models whose slow-roll parameters scale as 1/N in the limit of a large number of e-folds N. We proof that all such models belong to two universality classes, characterised by a single parameter. One class contains small field models like hilltop inflation, while the other class consists of large field models like chaotic inflation. We give the leading expressions for the spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio r, which are universal for each class, plus subleading corrections for a number of models. This predicts r either to be unobserv…
Warm inflation includes inflaton interactions with other fields throughout the inflationary epoch instead of confining such interactions to a distinct reheating era. Previous investigations have shown that, when certain constraints on the dynamics of these interactions and the resultant radiation bath are satisfied, a low-momentum-dominated dissipation coefficient $\propto T^3/m_χ^2$ can sustain an era of inflation compatible with CMB observations. In this work, we extend these analyses by including the pole-dominated dissipation term $\propto \sqrt{m_χT} \exp(-m_χ/T)$. We find that, with this…
What new physics can we extract from inflation using the ACT DR6 and DESI DR2 Observations?
SGT University（SGT大学）；Institute of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw（华沙大学物理学院理论物理研究所）；Center for Theoretical Physics, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University（L.N. 古米廖夫欧亚国立大学理论物理中心）；B.M.S. College of Engineering（B.M.S.工程学院）
We construct a family of simple single-field inflation models consistent with Planck / BICEP Keck bounds which have a parametrically small tensor amplitude and no running of the scalar spectral index. The construction consists of a constant-roll hilltop inflaton potential with the end of inflation left as a free parameter induced by higher-order operators which become dominant late in inflation. This construction directly demonstrates that there is no lower bound on the tensor/scalar ratio for simple single-field inflation models.
We propose a multi-natural inflation model in which the single-field inflaton potential consists of two or more sinusoidal potentials that are comparable in size, but have different periodicity with a possible non-zero relative phase. The model is versatile enough to realize both large-field and small-field inflation. We show that, in a model with two sinusoidal potentials, the predicted values of the spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio lie within the $1σ$ region of the Planck data. In particular, there is no lower bound on the decay constants in contrast to the original natural inflatio…
We study two of the most theoretically promising models of inflation, namely the Natural inflation and the Mutated Hilltop inflation, in the Einstein-Gauss Bonnet(EGB) gravity framework. In this work, we try to explore these models in EGB framework, keeping the observations from $GW170817$ on the speed of gravitational wave to be equal to the speed of light. This has direct implication on the non-minimal coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet invariant in the action. Thus, the effective potential gets new features. We have not only analysed the inflationary dynamics, but also the reheating dynamics and …
