Systematic understanding for classes of inflationary models is investigated from the viewpoint of the local conformal symmetry and the slightly broken global symmetry in the framework of the metric-affine geometry. In the metric-affine geometry, which is a generalisation of the Riemannian one adopted in the ordinary General Relativity, the affine connection is an independent variable of the metric rather than given e.g. by the Levi-Civita connection as its function. Thanks to this independency, the metric-affine geometry can preserve the local conformal symmetry in each term of the Lagrangian contrary to the Riemannian geometry, and then the local conformal invariance can be compatible with much more kinds of global symmetries. As simple examples, we consider the two-scalar models with the broken $\mathrm{SO}(1,1)$ or $\mathrm{O}(2)$, leading to the well-known $α$-attractor or natural inflation, respectively. The inflaton can be understood as their pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson.
We motivate a minimal realization of slow-roll $k$-inflation by incorporating the local conformal symmetry and the broken global $\mathrm{SO}(1,1)$ symmetry in the metric-affine geometry. With use of the metric-affine geometry where both the metric and the affine connection are treated as independent variables, the local conformal symmetry can be preserved in each term of the Lagrangian and thus higher derivatives of scalar fields can be easily added in a conformally invariant way. Predictions of this minimal slow-roll $k$-inflation, $n_\mathrm{s}\sim 0.96$, $r\sim 0.005$, and $c_\mathrm{s}\si…
Conformal scaling invariance should play an important role for understanding the origin and evolution of universe. During inflation period, it appears to be an approximate symmetry, but how it is broken remains uncertain. The appealing $α$-attractor inflation implements the spontaneous breaking of conformal symmetry and a mysterious SO(1,1) global symmetry. To better understand the SO(1,1) symmetry, here we present a systematic treatment of the inflation models with local conformal symmetry in a more general formalism. We find SO(2) is the other possible symmetry in the presence of Weyl gauge …
We develop a new class of chaotic inflation models with spontaneously broken conformal invariance. Observational consequences of a broad class of such models are stable with respect to strong deformations of the scalar potential. This universality is a critical phenomenon near the point of enhanced symmetry, SO(1,1), in case of conformal inflation. It appears because of the exponential stretching of the moduli space and the resulting exponential flattening of scalar potentials upon switching from the Jordan frame to the Einstein frame in this class of models. This result resembles stretching a…
Affine gravity, a gravity theory based on affine connection with no notion of metric, supports scalar field dynamics only if scalar fields have non-vanishing potential. The non-vanishing vacuum energy ensures that the cosmological constant is non-vanishing. It also ensures that the energy-momentum tensor of vacuum gives the dynamically generated metric tensor. We construct this affine setup and study primordial inflation in it. We study inflationary dynamics in affine gravity and general relativity, comparatively. We show that non-minimally coupled inflaton dynamics can be transformed into a m…
During inflation, the geometry of spacetime is described by a (quasi-)de Sitter phase. Inflationary observables are determined by the underlying (softly broken) de Sitter isometry group SO(1, 4) which acts like a conformal group on R^3: when the fluctuations are on super-Hubble scales, the correlators of the scalar fields are constrained by conformal invariance. Heavy fields with mass m larger than the Hubble rate H correspond to operators with imaginary dimensions in the dual Euclidean three-dimensional conformal field theory. By making use of the dS/CFT correspondence we show that, besides t…
We classify the metric-affine theories of gravitation, in which the metric and the connections are treated as independent variables, by use of several constraints on the connections. Assuming the Einstein-Hilbert action, we find that the equations for the distortion tensor (torsion and non-metricity) become algebraic, which means that those variables are not dynamical. As a result, we can rewrite the basic equations in the form of Riemannian geometry. Although all classified models recover the Einstein gravity in the Palatini formalism (in which we assume there is no coupling between matter an…
We study the multifield inflationary models where the cosmological perturbation is sourced by light scalar fields other than the inflaton. The corresponding perturbations are both scale invariant and special conformally invariant. We exploit the operator product expansion technique of conformal field theories to study the inflationary correlators enjoying the symmetries present during the de Sitter epoch. The operator product expansion is particularly powerful in characterizing inflationary correlation functions in two observationally interesting limits, the squeezed limit of the three-point c…
In the general framework of Metric-Affine theories of gravity, where the metric and the connection are independent variables, we consider actions quadratic in the Ricci scalar curvature and the Holst invariant (the contraction of the Riemann curvature with the Levi-Civita antisymmetric tensor) coupled non-minimally to a scalar field. We study the profile of the equivalent effective metric theory, featuring an extra dynamical pseudoscalar degree of freedom, and show that it reduces to an effective single-field inflationary model. We analyze in detail the inflationary predictions and find that t…
Induced gravity, metrical gravity in which gravitational constant arises from vacuum expectation value of a heavy scalar, is known to suffer from Jordan frame vs. Einstein frame ambiguity, especially in inflationary dynamics. Induced gravity in affine geometry, as we show here, leads to an emergent metric and gravity scale, with no Einstein-Jordan ambiguity. While gravity is induced by the vacuum expectation value of the scalar field, nonzero vacuum energy facilitates generation of the metric. Our analysis shows that induced gravity results in a relatively large tensor-to-scalar ratio in both …
We embed general $f(R)$ inflationary models in minimal supergravity plus matter, a single chiral superfield $Φ$, with or without another superfield $S$, via a Jordan frame Einstein+scalar description. In particular, inflationary models like a generalized Starobinsky one are analyzed and constraints on them are found. We also embed the related models of conformal inflation, also described as Jordan frame Einstein+scalar models, in particular the conformal inflation from the Higgs model, and analyze the inflationary constraints on them.
We introduce conformal coupling of the Standard Model Higgs field to gravity and discuss the subsequent modification of $R^2$-inflation. The main observation is a lower temperature of reheating which happens mostly through scalaron decays into gluons due to the conformal (trace) anomaly. This modifies all predictions of the original $R^2$-inflation. To the next-to-leading order in slow roll parameters we calculate amplitudes and indices of scalar and tensor perturbations produced at inflation. The results are compared to the next-to-leading order predictions of $R^2$-inflation with minimally c…
In inflationary models where the source of scalar perturbations is not the inflaton, but one or more scalars with negligible coupling with the inflaton, the resulting perturbations are not only scale invariant, but fully conformally invariant with conformal dimension close to zero. This is closely related to the fact that correlation functions can only depend on the de Sitter invariant distances. These properties follow from the isometries of the inflationary de Sitter space and are thus completely independent of the dynamics. The 3-point function is fixed in terms of two constants, while the …
Here we concisely review the nonminimal coupling dynamics of a single scalar field in the context of purely affine gravity and extend the study to multifield dynamics. The coupling is performed via an affine connection and its associated curvature without referring to any metric tensor. The latter arises a posteriori and it may gain an emergent character like the scale of gravity. What is remarkable in affine gravity is the transition from nonminimal to minimal couplings which is realized by only field redefinition of the scalar fields. Consequently, the inflationary models gain a unique descr…
Usual inflation is realized with a slow rolling scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. In contrast, we consider dynamics of a scalar with a flat effective potential, conformally coupled to gravity. Surprisingly, it contains an attractor inflationary solution with the rapidly rolling inflaton field. We discuss models with the conformal inflaton with a flat potential (including hybrid inflation). There is no generation of cosmological fluctuations from the conformally coupled inflaton. We consider realizations of modulated (inhomogeneous reheating) or curvaton cosmological fluctuations in th…
We investigate the possibility that the inflaton, in particular in conformal inflation models, is also a chameleon, i.e. that it couples to the energy density of some heavy non-relativistic matter present during inflation. We find new and interesting attractor behaviours, either prolonging inflation, or changing the observables $n_s,r$, depending on the sign of the chameleon coupling exponent. We also check that the chameleon coupling with the heavy matter field strongly suppress entropy modes during inflation.
We formulate new conformal models of inflation and dark energy which generalise the Higgs-Dilaton scenario. We embed these models in unimodular gravity whose effect is to break scale invariance in the late time Universe. In the early Universe, inflation occurs close to a maximum of both the scalar potential and the scalar coupling to the Ricci scalar in the Jordan frame. At late times, the dilaton, which decouples from the dynamics during inflation, receives a potential term from unimodular gravity and leads to the acceleration of the Universe. We address two central issues in this scenario. F…
According to the dS/CFT correspondence, correlators of fields generated during a primordial de Sitter phase are constrained by three-dimensional conformal invariance. Using the properties of radially quantized conformal field theories and the operator-state correspondence, we glean information on some points. The Higuchi bound on the masses of spin-s states in de Sitter is a direct consequence of reflection positivity in radially quantized CFT$_3$ and the fact that scaling dimensions of operators are energies of states. The partial massless states appearing in de Sitter correspond from the bou…
We investigate density perturbations generated through modulated reheating while inflation is driven by a conformally coupled scalar field. A large running of the spectral index is obtained, which reflects the basic nature of conformal inflation that higher-order time derivatives of the Hubble parameter during inflation are not necessarily small. This feature may allow us to distinguish between conformal inflation models and standard minimally coupled ones. We also investigate how the resulting fluctuations are modified when there is a deviation from an exact conformal coupling between the inf…
Spontaneous breaking of conformal symmetry has been widely exploited in successful model building of both inflationary cosmology and particle physics phenomenology. Conformal Grand Unified Theory (CGUT) inflation provides the same scalar tilt and tensor-to-scalar ratio as of Starobinsky and Higgs inflation. Moreover, it predicts a proton life time compatible with the current experimental bound. In this paper, we extend CGUT to account for the production of dark matter and the reheating of the Standard Model. To this end, we introduce a hidden sector directly coupled to the inflaton, whereas th…
It is showed by a conformal rescaling that the inflationary background can be dual to a slowly expanding background, which is almost Minkowski and described by a conformal field theory conformally coupled to gravity. It is proved that the primordial curvature perturbation and tensor perturbation generated during these two conformally equivalent backgrounds are completely equal, and the scale invariance of perturbations is determined by the conformal invariance of field theory in slowly expanding background. In dual slowly expanding scenario, the primordial universe is asymptotical to a static …
Models of inflation are tightly constrained by the PLANCK satellite data. Among them, Starobinsky's model with an exponential type potential seems to be challenged by the recent BICEP2 results. The model is based on the existence of $\,~ R^2$ terms in the Einstein-Hilbert action, which have their origin in the conformal-anomaly. Conformal (or Weyl) gravitational theories are relevant when matter fields become effectively massless; i.e. their masses are negligible in comparison with the spacetime curvature. These theories may include other, additional scalar fields. We show that their presence …
Physical equivalence between different conformal frames in scalar-tensor theory of gravity is a known fact. However, assuming that matter minimally couples to the metric of a particular frame, which we call the matter Jordan frame, the matter point of view of the universe may vary from frame to frame. Thus, there is a clear distinction between gravitational sector (curvature and scalar field) and matter sector. In this paper, focusing on a simple power-law inflation model in the Einstein frame, two examples are considered; a super-inflationary and a bouncing universe Jordan frames. Then we con…
First, we propose a scale-invariant modified gravity interacting with a neutral scalar "inflaton" and a Higgs-like SU(2)xU(1) iso-doublet scalar field based on the formalism of non-Riemannian (metric-independent) spacetime volume-elements. This model describes in the physical Einstein frame a quintessential inflationary scenario driven by the "inflaton" together with gravity-inflaton assisted dynamical spontaneous SU(2)xU(1) symmetry breaking in the post-inflationary universe, whereas SU(2)xU(1) symmetry remains intact in the inflationary epoch. Next, we find the explicit representation of the…
Nonminimally coupled inflation models based on a nonminimal coupling $ξϕ^{2} R$ and a $ϕ^{4}$ potential are in excellent agreement with the scalar spectral index observed by Planck. Here we consider the modification of these models by a conformal factor with a zero. This enables a nonminimally coupled model to have a Planck-scale potential energy density at large values of the inflaton field, which can account for the smooth, potential-dominated volume that is necessary for inflation to start. We show that models with a conformal factor zero generally predict a correlated increase of the spect…
We investigate inflationary attractor points by analyzing non-minimally coupled single field inflation models in two opposite limits; the `flat' limit in which the first derivative of the conformal factor is small and the `steep' limit, in which the first derivative of the conformal factor is large. We consider a subset of models that yield Starobinsky inflation in the steep conformal factor, strong coupling, limit and demonstrate that they result in chaotic inflation in the opposite flat, weak coupling, limit. The suppression of higher order powers of the inflaton field in the potential is sh…
Conformal transformations play a widespread role in gravity theories in regard to their cosmological and other implications. In the pure metric theory of gravity, conformal transformations change the frame to a new one wherein one obtains a conformal-invariant scalar-tensor theory such that the scalar field, deriving from the conformal factor, is a ghost. In this work, conformal transformations and ghosts will be analyzed in the framework of the metric-affine theory of gravity. Within this framework, metric and connection are independent variables, and hence, transform independently under conf…
Constant-rate inflation, including ultra-slow-roll as a special case, has been widely applied to the formation of primordial black holes with significant deviation from the standard slow-roll conditions at both the growing and decaying phases of the power spectrum. We derive analytic solutions for the curvature perturbations with respect to the late-time scaling dimensions (conformal weights) constrained by the dilatation symmetry of the de Sitter background and show that the continuity of conformal weights across different rolling phases is protected by the adiabatic condition of the inflaton…
We modify the conformal inflation set-up of \cite{Kallosh:2013hoa}, with a local Weyl invariance, a dynamical Planck scale and an $SO(1,1)$ invariance at high energies, in order to be able to identify the physical scalar with the physical Higgs at low energies, similar to the cyclic Higgs models of \cite{Bars:2013vba}. We obtain a general class of exponentially-corrected potentials that gives a generalized Starobinsky model with an infinite series of $R^p$ corrections, tracing a line in the $(r,n_s)$ plane for CMB fluctuations, with an $r$ that can be made to agree with the recent BICEP2 measu…
Multiple scalar fields nonminimally interacting through pure affine gravity are considered to generate primordial perturbations during an inflationary phase. The couplings considered give rise to two distinct sources of entropy perturbations that may not be suppressed in the long wavelength limit. The first is merely induced by the presence of more than one scalar and arises even in the minimal coupling limit. The second source however is restricted to nonminimal interaction. Unlike the case of metric gravity, and due to the absence of anisotropic stresses, the second source disappears for sin…
We propose a new broad class of multi-field non-canonical inflationary models as an extension of multi-field conformal cosmological attractors. This also generalizes the recently discovered class of non-canonical conformal attractors for single field inflation. Kinetic terms of this class of models are phenomenologically arising from ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity and from ${\cal N}=1$ superconformal theory, with two conformal scalar compensator fields in the latter. We show that the inflationary dynamics and predictions of this class of models are stable with respect to the significant modificatio…
We investigate a locally scale-invariant (that is, Weyl-invariant) theory which describes the coupling of gravity and the standard model from the viewpont of the Higgs mechanism and inflation. It is shown that this theory exhibits a peculiar feature of a coupling between the gauge field and the inflaton in a large field limit whereas it nicely describes the standard model coupled to general relativity in a small field limit. Moreover, we discuss a possibility that this Weyl invariant theory could explain the recent BICEP2 measurement by deforming the potential term in an appropriate way, and f…
[Abridged] As is well known, in order to generate magnetic fields of observed amplitudes during inflation, the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic field has to be broken by coupling it either to the inflaton or to the scalar curvature. Couplings to scalar curvature pose certain challenges even in slow roll inflation and it seems desirable to consider couplings to the inflaton. It can be shown that, in slow roll inflation, to generate nearly scale invariant magnetic fields of adequate strengths, the non-conformal coupling to the inflaton has to be chosen specifically depending on the in…
We derive the general Ward identities for scale and special conformal transformations in theories of single field inflation. Our analysis is model independent and based on symmetry considerations alone. The identities we obtain are valid to all orders in the slow roll expansion. For special conformal transformations, the Ward identities include a term which is non-linear in the fields that arises due to a compensating spatial reparametrization. Some observational consequences are also discussed.
We examine the cosmological sector of a gauge theory of gravity based on the SO(4,2) conformal group of Minkowski space. We allow for conventional matter coupled to the spacetime metric as well as matter coupled to the field that gauges special conformal transformations. An effective cosmological constant is generated dynamically via solution of the equations of motion, and this allows us to recover the late time acceleration of the universe. Furthermore, gravitational fields sourced by ordinary cosmological matter (i.e. dust and radiation) are significantly weakened in the very early universe…
The method of a conformal transformation is applied to a general class of single field inflation models with non-minimal coupling to gravity and non-standard kinetic terms, in order to reduce the cosmological perturbative calculation to the conventional minimal coupling case to all orders in perturbation theory. Our analysis is made simple by the fact that all perturbation variables in the comoving gauge are conformally invariant to all orders. The structure of the vacuum, on which cosmological correlation functions are evaluated, is also discussed. We show how quantization in the Jordan frame…
Inflationary dynamics driven by multiple fields, especially with nonminimal couplings, allow for highly interesting features such as isocurvature, non-Gaussianity, and preheating. In this paper, we study two-field inflation in the context of purely affine gravity, where the metrical structure results from the dynamics of the spacetime affine connection. We introduce a covariant formulation in the new framework and show that it leads to a curved field space which can produce conspicuous departure from the purely metric gravity. In the case where the fields are canonical, the field manifold gain…
Extensions of the Standard Model and general relativity featuring a UV fixed point can leave observable implications at accessible energies. Although mass parameters such as the Planck scale can appear through dimensional transmutation, all fundamental dimension-4 operators can (at least approximately) respect Weyl invariance at finite energy. An example is the Weyl-squared term, whose consistency and observational consequences are studied. This quasi-conformal scenario emerges from the UV complete quadratic gravity and is a possible framework for inflation. We find two realizations. In the fi…
We investigate the symmetry constraints on the bispectrum, i.e. the three-point correlation function of primordial density fluctuations, in slow-roll inflation. It follows from the defining property of slow-roll inflation that primordial correlation functions inherit most of their structure from weakly broken de Sitter symmetries. Using holographic techniques borrowed from the AdS/CFT correspondence, the symmetry constraints on the bispectrum can be mapped to a set of stress-tensor Ward identities in a weakly broken 2+1-dimensional Euclidean CFT. We construct the consistency condition from the…
We provide a precise and quantitative holographic description of a class of inflationary slow-roll models. The dual QFT is a deformation of a three-dimensional CFT by a nearly marginal operator, which, in the models we consider, generates an RG flow to a nearby IR fixed point. These models describe hilltop inflation, where the inflaton rolls from a local maximum of the potential in the infinite past (corresponding to the IR fixed point of the dual QFT) to reach a nearby local minimum in the infinite future (corresponding to the UV of the dual QFT). Through purely holographic means, we compute …
We give new formulations of the solutions of the field equations of the affine Toda and conformal affine Toda theories on a cylinder and two-dimensional Minkowski space-time. These solutions are parameterised in terms of initial data and the resulting covariant phase spaces are diffeomorphic to the Hamiltonian ones. We derive the fundamental Poisson brackets of the parameters of the solutions and give the general static solutions for the affine theory.
The instability of (quasi) de Sitter spacetime from quantum gravitational effects has been discussed in many works. Especially, the gravitational backreaction from quantum energy momentum tensor is crucial for understanding the low-energy description of quantum gravity and sometimes destabilize the spacetime. In this paper we discuss the (quasi) de Sitter instability from gravitational backreaction involving quantum conformal anomaly. The conformal or trace anomaly corresponds to the quantum gravitational contributions of the massless conformal fields and affects the spacetime homogeneously. F…
Some time ago, conformal data with affine fusion rules were found. Our purpose here is to realize some of these conformal data, using systems of free bosons and parafermions. The so constructed theories have an extended $W$ algebras which are close analogues of affine algebras. Exact character formulae is given, and the realizations are shown to be full fledged unitary conformal field theories.
It is shown that the Affine Toda models (AT) constitute a ``gauge fixed'' version of the Conformal Affine Toda model (CAT). This result enables one to map every solution of the AT models into an infinite number of solutions of the corresponding CAT models, each one associated to a point of the orbit of the conformal group. The Hirota's $τ$-function are introduced and soliton solutions for the AT and CAT models associated to $\hat {SL}(r+1)$ and $\hat {SP}(r)$ are constructed.
We discuss the possibility of successful magnetogenesis during inflation by employing the one-loop effective action of massless QED. The action is strictly non-local and results from the long distance fluctuations of massless charged particles present at the inflationary scale. Most importantly, it encodes the conformal anomaly of QED which is crucial to avoid the vacuum preservation in classical electromagnetism. In particular, we find a blue spectrum for the magnetic field with spectral index $n_B \simeq 2 - α_{\text{e}}$ where $α_{\text{e}}$ depends on both the number of e-folds during infl…
We revisit the gauge symmetry related to integrable projective transformations in metric-affine formalism, identifying the gauge field of the Weyl (conformal) symmetry as a dynamical component of the affine connection. In particular, we show how to include the local scaling symmetry as a gauge symmetry of a large class of geometric gravity theories, introducing a compensator dilaton field that naturally gives rise to a Stückelberg sector where a spontaneous breaking mechanism of the conformal symmetry is at work to generate a mass scale for the gauge field. For Ricci-based gravities that inclu…
This thesis presents a possible inflation scenario as a consequence of non-minimal gravitational couplings in the Conformal Standard Model. That model consists, in comparison to the SM, of additional right-chiral neutrinos and a complex scalar sextet which, in distinction to the Higgs boson, is not coupled to the SM particles. The inflation is driven by two non-minimally coupled fields. One of those is the SU(2) Higgs-like doublet and the second is associated with the trace of the sextet. These two fields are related to the Higgs particle and ``shadow'', heavier Higgs via the mass mixing matri…
Primordial magnetic fields are generated during inflation by considering actions that break the conformal invariance of the electromagnetic field. To break the conformal invariance, the electromagnetic fields are coupled either to the inflaton or to the scalar curvature. Also, a parity violating term is often added to the action in order to enhance the amplitudes of the primordial electromagnetic fields. In this work, we examine the effects of deviations from slow roll inflation on the spectra of non-helical as well as helical electromagnetic fields. We find that, in the case of the coupling t…
In this paper, we generalize Coleman-Weinberg (CW) inflation in grand unified theories (GUTs) such as $\text{SU}(5)$ and $\text{SO}(10)$ by means of considering two complex singlet fields with conformal invariance. In this framework, inflation emerges from a spontaneously broken conformal symmetry. The GUT symmetry implies a potential with a CW form, as a consequence of radiative corrections. The conformal symmetry flattens the above VEV branch of the CW potential to a Starobinsky plateau. As a result, we obtain $n_{s}\sim 1-\frac{2}{N}$ and $r\sim \frac{12}{N^2}$ for $N\sim 50-60$ e-foldings.…
We construct the representation of Double Affine Hecke Algebra whose symmetrization gives the center of the quantum group U_q(sl(2)) and by Kazhdan--Lusztig duality the Verlinde algebra of (1,p) models of logarithmic conformal field theory.
A set of power-law solutions of a conformal-violating Maxwell model with a non-standard scalar-vector coupling will be shown in this paper. In particular, we are interested in a coupling term of the form $X^{2n} F^{μν}F_{μν}$ with $X$ denoting the kinetic term of the scalar field. Stability analysis indicates that the new set of anisotropic power-law solutions is unstable during the inflationary phase. The result is consistent with the cosmic no-hair conjecture. We show, however, that a set of stable slowly expanding solutions does exist for a small range of parameters $λ$ and $n$. Hence a sma…
We use Hirota's method formulated as a recursive scheme to construct complete set of soliton solutions for the affine Toda field theory based on an arbitrary Lie algebra. Our solutions include a new class of solitons connected with two different type of degeneracies encountered in the Hirota's perturbation approach. We also derive an universal mass formula for all Hirota's solutions to the Affine Toda model valid for all underlying Lie groups. Embedding of the Affine Toda model in the Conformal Affine Toda model plays a crucial role in this analysis.
We reexamine the $W_{\infty}$ symmetry of the $sl(N)$ Conformal Affine Toda theories. It is shown that it is possible to reduce (nonuniquely) the zero curvature equation to a Lax equation for a first order pseudodifferential oprator, whose coefficients are the generators of the $W_{\infty}$ algebra. This clarifies the known relation between the Conformal Affine Toda theories and the KP hierarchy. A possible correspondence between the matrix models and the Conformal Affine Toda models is discussed.
