In this paper, we investigate the potential-driven inflation models with a disformal coupling to Einstein Gravity, to find out the effects of such a coupling on these models. We consider a simple coupling form which introduces only one parameter, and three inflation models, namely the chaotic inflation, the Higgs inflation, and the monodromy inflation. We find that the disformal coupling can have some modifications to the observational variables of these models such as the power spectrum, the spectral index as well as the tensor/scalar ratio, although not too large due to the constraints on the disformal coupling parameter. With these modifications, one has the opportunity of improving models that lie on the edge of the favorable regions of Planck observational data, such as monodromy inflation. Moreover, the non-trivial sound speed of tensor perturbations (gravitational waves) may come out, due to the coupling of gravity and kinetic terms of the field.
We propose a hybrid type of the conventional Higgs inflation and new Higgs inflation models. We perform a disformal transformation into the Einstein frame and analyze the background dynamics and the cosmological perturbations in the truncated model, in which we ignore the higher-derivative terms of the Higgs field. From the observed power spectrum of the density perturbations, we obtain the constraint on the non-minimal coupling constant $ξ$ and the mass parameter $M$ in the derivative coupling. Although the primordial tilt $n_s$ in the hybrid model barely changes, the tensor-to-scalar ratio $…
In this work, we investigate the preheating mechanism in a disformally-coupled inflationary model where the scalar field $ϕ$ (which is the inflaton field) naturally coupled to another matter field $χ$ induced by the disformal transformation. In the present scenario, novel derivative interactions mixing the kinetic terms of the two fields emerge inherently. We start by deriving the evolution of the background system when the back reaction on the background field is neglected. We examine the particle production due to parametric resonances in the models and find in Minkowski space that the stage…
Disformal theories of gravity are scalar-tensor theories where the scalar couples derivatively to matter via the Jordan frame metric. These models have recently attracted interest in the cosmological context since they admit accelerating solutions. We derive the solution for a static isolated mass in generic disformal gravity theories and transform it into the parameterised post-Newtonian form. This allows us to investigate constraints placed on such theories by local tests of gravity. The tightest constraints come from preferred-frame effects due to the motion of the Solar System with respect…
It is shown that extensions to General Relativity, which introduce a strongly coupled scalar field, can be viable if the interaction has a non-conformal form. Such disformal coupling depends upon the gradients of the scalar field. Thus, if the field is locally static and smooth, the coupling becomes invisible in the solar system: this is the disformal screening mechanism. A cosmological model is considered where the disformal coupling triggers the onset of accelerated expansion after a scaling matter era, giving a good fit to a wide range of observational data. Moreover, the interaction leaves…
This paper is concerned with theories of gravity that contain a scalar coupled both conformally and disformally to matter through the metric. By systematically deriving the non-relativistic limit, it is shown that no new non-linear screening mechanisms are present beyond the Vainshtein mechanism and chameleon-like screening. If one includes the cosmological expansion of the universe, disformal effects that are usually taken to be absent can be present in the solar system. When the conformal factor is absent, fifth-forces can be screened on all scales when the cosmological field is slowly-rolli…
The late-time cosmological dynamics of disformal gravity are investigated using dynamical systems methods. It is shown that in the general case there are no stable attractors that screen fifth-forces locally and simultaneously describe a dark energy dominated universe. Viable scenarios have late-time properties that are independent of the disformal parameters and are identical to the equivalent conformal quintessence model. Our analysis reveals that configurations where the Jordan frame metric becomes singular are only reached in the infinite future, thus explaining the natural pathology resis…
We show how short inflation naturally arises in a non-minimal gravity theory with a scalar field without any potential terms. This field drives inflation solely by its derivatives, which couple to the matter only through the combination $\bar g_{μν} = g_{μν} - \frac{1}{m^4} \partial_μϕ\partial_νϕ$. The theory is free of instabilities around the usual Minkowski vacuum. Inflation lasts as long as $\dot ϕ^2 > m^4$, and terminates gracefully once the scalar field kinetic energy drops below $m^4$. The total number of e-folds is given by the initial inflaton energy $\dot ϕ_0^2$ as ${\cal N} \simeq \…
Disformally coupled, light scalar fields arise in many of the theories of dark energy and modified gravity that attempt to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe. They have proved difficult to constrain with precision tests of gravity because they do not give rise to fifth forces around static non-relativistic sources. However, because the scalar field couples derivatively to standard model matter, measurements at high energy particle colliders offer an effective way to constrain and potentially detect a disformally coupled scalar field. Here we derive new constraints on the strengt…
Conformal and Disformal couplings between a scalar field and matter occur naturally in general scalar-tensor theories. In D-brane models of cosmology and particle physics, these couplings originate from the D-brane action describing the dynamics of its transverse (the scalar) and longitudinal (matter) fluctuations, which are thus coupled. During the post-inflationary regime and before the onset of big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), these couplings can modify the expansion rate felt by matter, changing the predictions for the thermal relic abundance of dark matter particles and thus the annihilati…
The simplest way to modify gravity is to extend the gravitational sector to include an additional scalar degree of freedom. The most general metric that can be built in such a theory includes disformal terms, so that standard model fields move on a metric which is the sum of the space time metric and a tensor constructed from first derivatives of the scalar. In such a theory gravitational waves and photons can propagate at different speeds, and these can in turn be different from the maximum speed limit for matter particles. In this work we show that disformal couplings can cause charged parti…
Scalar particles coupled to the Standard Model fields through a disformal coupling arise in different theories, such as massive gravity or brane-world models. We will review the main phenomenology associated with such particles. Distinctive disformal signatures could be measured at colliders and with astrophysical observations. The phenomenological relevance of the disformal coupling demands the introduction of a set of symmetries, which may ensure the stability of these new degrees of freedom. In such a case, they constitute natural dark matter candidates since they are generally massive and …
Currently there is no definitive description for the accelerated expansion of the Universe at both early and late times; we know these two periods as the epochs of inflation and dark energy. Contained within this Thesis are two studies of inflation and one in the context of dark energy. The first study involves two noncanonical kinetic terms each in a two-field scenario, and their effects on the generation of isocurvature modes. As a result, these terms affect the isocurvature perturbations produced, and consequently the Cosmic Microwave Background. In the following study, the impact of a shar…
Many modifications of gravity introduce new scalar degrees of freedom, and in such theories matter fields typically couple to an effective metric that depends on both the true metric of spacetime and on the scalar field and its derivatives. Scalar field contributions to the effective metric can be classified as conformal and disformal. Disformal terms introduce gradient couplings between scalar fields and the energy momentum tensor of other matter fields, and cannot be constrained by fifth force experiments because the effects of these terms are trivial around static non-relativistic sources. …
The minimal bimetric theory employing a disformal transformation between matter and gravity metrics is known to produce exactly scale-invariant fluctuations. It has a purely equilateral non-Gaussian signal, with an amplitude smaller than that of DBI inflation (with opposite sign) but larger than standard inflation. We consider non-minimal bimetric models, where the coupling $B$ appearing in the disformal transformation ${\hat g}_{\mn}= g_{\mn} -B\partial_μϕ\partial_νϕ$ can run with $ϕ$. For power-law $B(ϕ)$ these models predict tilted spectra. For each value of the spectral index, a distinctiv…
Many theories of dark energy and modified gravity give rise to scalar fields that couple derivatively to the energy momentum tensor of matter. This is known as disformal coupling. I will show that laboratory searches for axions are ideally suited to search for and constrain disformal scalar fields.
The disformal transformation of metric $g_{μν} \to Ω^2 (ϕ)g_{μν}+Γ(ϕ,X) \partial_μϕ\partial_νϕ$, where $ϕ$ is a scalar field with the kinetic energy $X= \partial_μϕ\partial^μϕ/2$, preserves the Lagrangian structure of Gleyzes-Langlois-Piazza-Vernizzi (GLPV) theories (which is the minimum extension of Horndeski theories). In the presence of matter, this transformation gives rise to a kinetic-type coupling between the scalar field $ϕ$ and matter. We consider the Einstein frame in which the second-order action of tensor perturbations on the isotropic cosmological background is of the same form as…
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.
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 investigate in detail a family of quintessential inflation models in the context of $R+R^2$ Palatini modified gravity. We find that successful inflation and quintessence are obtained with an inflaton scalar potential that is approximately quadratic in inflation and inverse quartic in quintessence. We show that corrections for the kination period due to Palatini modified gravity are subdominant, while the setup does not challenge constraints on modified gravity from solar system observations and microscopic experiments, in contrast to the metric case. We obtain concrete predictions regarding…
A field kinetic coupling with the Einstein tensor leads to a gravitationally enhanced friction during inflation, by which even steep potentials with theoretically natural model parameters can drive cosmic acceleration. In the presence of this non-minimal derivative coupling we place observational constraints on a number of representative inflationary models such as chaotic inflation, inflation with exponential potentials, natural inflation, and hybrid inflation. We show that most of the models can be made compatible with the current observational data mainly due to the suppressed tensor-to-sca…
We have derived an effective potential for inflationary scenario from torsion and quantum gravity correction in terms of the scalar field hidden in torsion. A strict bound on the CP violating $θ$ parameter, ${\cal O}(10^{-10})<θ<{\cal O}(10^{-9})$ has been obtained, using {\tt Planck+WMAP9} best fit cosmological parameters.
The discovery of B-modes, and their effect on the fit to inflationary parameters, opens a window to explore quantum gravity. In this paper we adopt an effective theory approach to study quantum gravity effects in inflation. We apply this approach to chaotic and $ϕ^4$ inflation, and find that BICEP2 constrains these new operators to values which are consistent with the effective theory approach. This result opens the possibility to study quantum gravity in a systematic fashion, including its effect on Higgs inflation and other Starobisnky-like models.
Cosmic Inflation provides an attractive framework for understanding the early universe and the cosmic microwave background. It can readily involve energies close to the scale at which Quantum Gravity effects become important. General considerations of black hole quantum mechanics suggest nontrivial constraints on any effective field theory model of inflation that emerges as a low-energy limit of quantum gravity, in particular the constraint of the Weak Gravity Conjecture. We show that higher-dimensional gauge and gravitational dynamics can elegantly satisfy these constraints and lead to a viab…
We study quantum gravity constraints on inflationary model building. Our approach is based on requiring the entropy associated to a given inflationary model to be less than that of the de Sitter entropy. We give two prescriptions for determining the inflationary entropy, based on either `bits per unit area' or entanglement entropy. The existence of transPlanckian flat directions, necessary for large tensor modes in the CMB, correlates with an inflationary entropy greater than that allowed by de Sitter space. Independently these techniques also constrain or exclude de Sitter models with large-r…
Mechanisms for the generation of primordial non-Gaussian metric fluctuations in the context of multiple-field inflation are reviewed. As long as kinetic terms remain canonical, it appears that nonlinear couplings inducing non-gaussianities can be split into two types. The extension of the one-field results to multiple degrees of freedom leads to gravity mediated couplings that are ubiquitous but generally modest. Multiple-field inflation offers however the possibility of generating non-gravity mediated coupling in isocurvature directions that can eventually induce large non-Gaussianities in th…
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 present an introduction to cosmic inflation in the context of Palatini gravity, which is an interesting alternative to the usual metric theory of gravity. In the latter case only the metric $g_{μν}$ determines the geometry of space-time, whereas in the former case both the metric and the space-time connection $Γ^λ_{μν}$ are a priori independent variables - a choice which can lead to a theory of gravity different from the metric one. In scenarios where the field(s) responsible for cosmic inflation are coupled non-minimally to gravity or the gravitational sector is otherwise extended, assumpt…
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.
Quintessential inflation describes a scenario in which both inflation and dark energy (quintessence) are described by the same scalar field. In conventional braneworld models of quintessential inflation gravitational particle production is used to reheat the universe. This reheating mechanism is very inefficient and results in an excessive production of gravity waves which violate nucleosynthesis constraints and invalidate the model. We describe a new method of realizing quintessential inflation on the brane in which inflation is followed by `instant preheating' (Felder, Kofman & Linde 1999). …
In this article, we intend to find a specific model which can satisfy the further refining dS swampland conjecture and scalar weak gravity conjecture (SWGC) simultaneously, in particular, Higgs inflation model and its two extensions: Higgs-Dilaton model and Palatini Higgs inflation. We find that although Higgs inflation model and Higgs-Dilaton model could satisfy the further refining dS swampland conjecture, the two models cannot satisfy SWGC and its strong version. While Palatini Higgs inflation could satisfy these conjectures simultaneously. Therefore Palatini Higgs inflation could be a "rea…
We consider a broad class of interactions between radiation and a light scalar field, including both conformal and disformal couplings. Such a scalar field potentially acts on cosmological scales as dark energy and could also appear in modified gravity theories. We study the consequences of these couplings on the mixing between the scalar field and photons in galaxy clusters in the presence of a magnetic field. In particular we focus on the resulting turbulence-induced irregularities in the X-ray and UV bands. We find new bounds on the photon-to-scalar couplings, both conformal and disformal, …
We identify models of supersymmetric hybrid inflation in which the tensor-to-scalar ratio, a canonical measure of gravity waves produced during inflation, can be as large as 0.03 or so, which will be tested by the Planck satellite experiment. The scalar spectral index lies within the WMAP one sigma bounds, while $|d n_s / d\ln k| \lesssim 0.01$.
It was recently found that the decay of inflaton and the SUSY breaking field produces many gravitinos in the gravity mediation scenario. These discoveries led to an exclusion of many inflation models such as chaotic, (smooth) hybrid, topological and new inflation models. Under these circumstances we searched for a successful inflation model and found that the ``inverted'' hybrid inflation models can solve the gravitino overproduction problem by their distinctive shape of the potential. Furthermore, we found that this inflation model simultaneously can explain the observed baryon asymmetry thro…
