Search

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 perturbation. The temporal excitation of subleading states (with the next-to-lowest conformal weights), recorded as the "steepest growth" of the power spectrum, is triggered by the entropy production in the transition from slow-roll to constant-rate phases., Comment: 18 + 4 pages, 6 figures; v2: references added, provided entropy production as a criterion for the steepest growth; v3: minor corrections, version matched with publication

In previous works we have derived a Running Vacuum Model (RVM) for a string Universe, which provides an effective description of the evolution of 4-dimensional string-inspired cosmologies from inflation till the present epoch. In the context of this "stringy RVM" version, it is assumed that the early Universe is characterised by purely gravitational degrees of freedom, from the massless gravitational string multiplet, including the antisymmetric tensor field. The latter plays an important role, since its dual gives rise to a `stiff' gravitational-axion "matter", which in turn couples to the gravitational anomaly terms, assumed to be non-trivial at early epochs. In the presence of primordial gravitational wave (GW) perturbations, such anomalous couplings lead to an RVM-like dynamical inflation, without external inflatons. We review here this framework and discuss potential scenarios for the generation of such primordial GW, among which the formation of unstable domain walls, which eventually collapse in a non-spherical-symmetric manner, giving rise to GW. We also remark that the same type of "stiff" axionic matter could provide, upon the generation of appropriate potentials during the post-inflationary eras, (part of) the Dark Matter (DM) in the Universe, which could well be ultralight, depending on the parameters of the string-inspired model. All in all, the new (stringy) mechanism for RVM-inflation preserves the basic structure of the original (and more phenomenological) RVM, as well as its main advantages: namely, a mechanism for graceful exit and for generating a huge amount of entropy capable of explaining the horizon problem. It also predicts axionic DM and the existence of mild dynamical Dark Energy (DE) of quintessence type in the present universe, both being "living fossils" of the inflationary stages of the cosmic evolution., Comment: 75 pages revtex, 6 pdf figures incorporated

We report the discovery of four new hot Jupiters with the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). NGTS-15b, NGTS-16b, NGTS-17b, and NGTS-18b are short-period ($P, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

In this paper, we study the $$\alpha $$ -attractors in the framework of the Randall–Sundrum type II braneworld model. We consider the simplest E-model of $$\alpha $$ -attractors and apply the slow-roll approximation in high energy limit. In this scenario, we numerically investigate the inflationary parameters and show that high-energy brane corrections have significant effect on the parameter $$\alpha $$ ; namely, lower values of $$\alpha $$ are observationally preferred in this limit. The latter substantially reduces the tensor-to-scalar ratio of perturbations making the braneworld inflation compatible with observational data.

Starting with the de Broglie-Proca Lagrangian for a massive vector field, we calculate the number density of particles resulting from gravitational particle production (GPP) during inflation, with detailed consideration to the evolution of the number density through the reheating. We find plausible scenarios for the production of dark-photon dark matter of mass in a wide range, as low as a micro-electron volt to 1014 GeV. Gravitational particle production does not depend on any coupling of the dark photon to standard-model particles.

We study the effects of particle production on the evolution of the inflaton field in an axion monodromy model with the goal of discovering in which situations the resulting dynamics will be consistent with the swampland constraints. In the presence of a modulated potential the evolving background field (solution of the inflaton homogeneous in space) induces the production of long wavelength inflaton fluctuation modes. However, this either has a negligible effect on the inflaton dynamics (if the field spacing between local minima of the modulated potential is large), or else it traps the inflaton in a local minimum and leads to a graceful exit problem. On the other hand, the production of moduli fields at enhanced symmetry points can lead to a realization of trapped inflation consistent with the swampland constraints, as long as the coupling between the inflaton and the moduli fields is sufficiently large., The European Physical Journal C, 81 (2), ISSN:1434-6044, ISSN:1434-6052

Contracting cosmologies are known to be flawed with a shear instability, where the contribution from the anisotropic stress to the overall energy density grows as $a^{-6}$, with $a$ the scale factor. Classically, whether or not this contribution becomes important before the bounce depends on its initial value, which can always be sufficiently fine tuned to make it irrelevant. However, vacuum quantum fluctuations inevitably provide a non-vanishing source of anisotropic stress. In this work, we compute the minimum amount of shear that is obtained if one assumes that it vanishes initially, but lets quantum fluctuations build it up. In practice, we consider a massless test scalar field, and describe its quantum fluctuations by means of the stochastic "inflation" (though here applied to a contracting phase) formalism. We find that, if the equation-of-state parameter of the contraction satisfies $w>-1/9$, regardless of when the contracting phase is initiated, the time at which the shear becomes sizeable is always when the Hubble scale approaches the Planck mass (which is also where the bounce is expected to take place). However, if $w, Comment: matches the published version in EPJC

A concise summary of out-of-equilibrium dark matter production during post-inflationary reheating is presented. We show that the dark matter relic abundance is in general sensitive to the thermalization rate of the inflaton decay products, and the evolution of the temperature of the subsequently thermalized radiation. We discuss how smoking-gun signals, such as monochromatic neutrinos or gamma-ray lines, or Lyman-$\alpha$ data, can help constrain out-of-equilibrium DM models., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Contribution to the IWARA 2020 conference proceedings

Inflation driven by a generic self-gravitating medium is an interesting alternative to study the impact of spontaneous spacetime symmetry breaking during a quasi de-Sitter phase, in particular the 4-dimensional diffeomorphism invariance of GR is spontaneously broken down to $ISO(3)$. The effective description is based on four scalar fields that describe the excitations of a supersolid. There are two phonon-like propagating scalar degrees of freedom that mix non-trivially both at early and late times and, after exiting the horizon, give rise to non-trivial correlations among the different scalar power spectra. The non-linear structure of the theory allows a secondary gravitational waves production during inflation, efficient enough to saturate the present experimental bound and with a blue-tilted spectral index., Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures. Few typos corrected and comments added

The holographic principle is applied to a description of the Universe in the early stage of its evolution. As an example, we examine a cosmological model with a bounce with subsequent transition to the early stage of inflation. We investigate cosmological models based on a viscous liquid with a generalized equation of state in terms of the holographic cutoff proposed by Nojiri and Odintsov. Within the framework of these models, we have calculated the infrared radius in terms of the particle horizon or the event horizon. Energy conservation laws are obtained from the holographic point of view. The viscous liquid describing the bounce and the early Universe is presented as a generalization of holographic energy.

The cosmological implications of the Covariant Canonical Gauge Theory of Gravity (CCGG) are investigated. CCGG is a Palatini theory derived from first principles using the canonical transformation formalism in the covariant Hamiltonian formulation. The Einstein-Hilbert theory is thereby extended by a quadratic Riemann-Cartan term in the Lagrangian. Moreover, the requirement of covariant conservation of the stress-energy tensor leads to necessary presence of torsion. In the Friedman universe that promotes the cosmological constant to a time-dependent function, and gives rise to a geometrical correction with the EOS of dark radiation. The resulting cosmology, compatible with the $\Lambda$CDM parameter set, encompasses bounce and bang scenarios with graceful exits into the late dark energy era. Testing those scenarios against low-z observations shows that CCGG is a viable theory., Comment: Contribution to the International Workshop IWARA on Astronomy and Relativistic Astrophysics, September 2020. Accepted for publication in the Astronomische Nachrichten 2021; 8 pages, 6 figures

In the late 1970s the big bang model of cosmology was widely accepted and interpreted as implying the universe had a beginning. At the end of that decade William Lane Craig revived an argument for God known as the Kalam Cosmological Argument (KCA) based on this scientific consensus. Furthermore, he linked the big bang to the supposed biblical concept of creation ex nihilo found in Genesis. I shall critique Craig's position as expressed in a more recent update and argue that contemporary cosmology no longer understands the big bang as the ultimate beginning, seriously undermining the KCA. I will further contend that book of Genesis should not be understood as describing creation ex nihilo anyway.

We study M-theory compactified on twisted 7-tori with $G_2$-holonomy. The effective 4d supergravity has 7 chiral multiplets, each with a unit logarithmic K\"ahler potential. We propose octonion, Fano plane based superpotentials, codifying the error correcting Hamming (7,4) code. The corresponding 7-moduli models have Minkowski vacua with one flat direction. We also propose superpotentials based on octonions/error correcting codes for Minkowski vacua models with two flat directions. We update phenomenological $\alpha$-attractor models of inflation with $3\alpha=7,6,5,4,3,1$, based on inflation along these flat directions. These inflationary models reproduce the benchmark targets for detecting B-modes, predicting 7 different values of $r = 12\alpha/N_{e}^{2}$ in the range $10^{-2}\gtrsim r \gtrsim 10^{-3}$, to be explored by future cosmological observations., Comment: 63 pages, 25 figures, v2: comments added, typos fixed, v3: improved formulation presented in Sec.7 and refs added. The new formulation does not change inflationary predictions, but the potentials for decoupled heavy modes are simplified compared with the ones in the previous versions

We propose a novel explanation for the smallness of the observed cosmological constant (CC). Regions of space with a large CC are short lived and are dynamically driven to crunch soon after the end of inflation. Conversely, regions with a small CC are metastable and long lived and are the only ones to survive until late times. While the mechanism assumes many domains with different CC values, it does not result in eternal inflation nor does it require a long period of inflation to populate them. We present a concrete dynamical model, based on a super-cooled first order phase transition in a hidden conformal sector, that may successfully implement such a crunching mechanism. We find that the mechanism can only solve the CC problem up to the weak scale, above which new physics, such as supersymmetry, is needed to solve the CC problem all the way to the UV cutoff scale. The absence of experimental evidence for such new physics already implies a mild little hierarchy problem for the CC. Curiously, in this approach the weak scale arises as the geometric mean of the temperature in our universe today and the Planck scale, hinting at a new “CC miracle”, motivating new physics at the weak scale independent of electroweak physics. We further predict the presence of new relativistic degrees of freedom in the CFT that should be visible in the next round of CMB experiments. Our mechanism is therefore predictive and experimentally falsifiable.

We study the production of massive gauge bosons during inflation from the axion-type coupling to the inflaton and the corresponding oscillatory features in the primordial non-Gaussianity. In a window in which both the gauge boson mass and the chemical potential are large, the signal is potentially reachable by near-future large scale structure probes. This scenario covers a new region in oscillation frequency which is not populated by previously known cosmological collider models. We also demonstrate how to properly include the exponential factor and discuss the subtleties in obtaining power dependence of the gauge boson mass in the signal estimate., 25 pages

In this paper we study the implications of the generalized Higuchi bound on massive spin-two fields for the derivative of the scalar potential within bimetric theory. In contrast to the recent de Sitter swampland conjecture, an upper bound on the derivate of the scalar potential follows from the generalized Higuchi bound. In combination, this leaves a window for the derivate of the scalar potential. We discuss this bound in several representative bimetric models and parameter regions.

Most of the inflationary models that are in agreement with the Planck data rely on the presence of non-renormalizable operators. If the connection to low energy particle physics is made, the renormalization group (RG) introduces a sensitivity to ultraviolet (UV) physics that can be crucial in determining the inflationary predictions. We analyse this effect for the Standard Model (SM) augmented with non-minimal derivative couplings to gravity. Our set-up reduces to the SM for small values of the Higgs field, and allows for inflation in the opposite large field regime. The one-loop beta functions in the inflationary region are calculated using a covariant approach that properly accounts for the non-trivial structure of the field space manifold. We run the SM parameters from the electroweak to the inflationary scale, matching the couplings of the different effective field theories at the boundary between the two regimes, where we also include threshold corrections that parametrize effects from UV physics. We then compute the spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio and find that RG flow corrections can be determinant: a scenario that is ruled out at tree level can be resurrected and vice versa., Comment: 35 pages, 5 figures

The recent developments with mass dimension one fermionic fields in a cosmological context are briefly presented. The main results for inflation, dark matter, dark energy, cosmological perturbations, particle creation and interacting models are discussed. The Friedmann–Robertson–Walker equations for both torsion and torsion free cases are compared and discussed in different scenarios. We review and call attention for some important assumptions made on derivation of the motion equations. Other approaches and generalizations are suggested and some limitations are presented.

The leading account of several salient observable features of our universe today is provided by the theory of cosmic inflation. But an important and thus far intractable question is whether inflation is generic, or whether it is finely tuned—requiring very precisely specified initial conditions. In this paper I argue that a recent, model-independent characterization of inflation—that treats inflation as an effective field theory (EFT)—promises to address this question in a thoroughly modern and significantly more comprehensive way than in the existing literature. To motivate and provide context for this claim, I distill three core problems with the theory of inflation, which I dub the permissiveness problem, the initial conditions problem, and the multiverse problem. I argue that the initial conditions problem lies within the scope of EFTs of inflation as they are currently conceived, whereas the other two problems remain largely intractable: their solution must await a more complete description of the very early universe. I highlight recent work that addresses the initial conditions problem within the context of a dynamical systems analysis of a specific (state-of-the-art) EFT of inflation, and conclude with a roadmap for how such work might be extended to realize the promise claimed above.

We perform a phenomenological analysis of the observable consequences on the extended scalar sector of the SMASH (Standard Model–Axion–Seesaw–Higgs portal inflation) framework. We solve the vacuum metastability problem in a suitable region of SMASH scalar parameter spaces and discuss the one-loop correction to triple Higgs coupling $${{\lambda }_{{HHH}}}{\text{.}}$$ We also find that the correct neutrino masses and mass squared differences and baryonic asymmetry of the universe can arise from this model and consider running of the Yukawa couplings of the model. In fact, we perform a full two-loop renormalization group analysis of the SMASH model.

We examine the possibility that Universe expansion be made of some Λ-cold dark matter (ΛCDM) expansions repeating periodically, separated by some inflation- and radiation-dominated phases. This so-called ΛCDM periodic cosmology is motivated by the possibility that inflation and the present phase of accelerated expansion be due to the same dark energy. Then, in a phase space showing the variation of matter density parameter Ωm with respect to this of the radiation Ωr, the curve Ωm(Ωr) looks like a closed trajectory that Universe could run through forever. In this case, the end of the expansion acceleration of the ΛCDM phase is the beginning of a new inflation phase. We show that such a scenario implies the coupling of matter and/or radiation to dark energy. We consider the simplest of these ΛCDM periodic models i.e. a vacuum energy coupled to radiation. From matter domination phase to today, it behaves like a ΛCDM model, then followed by an inflation phase. But a sudden and fast decay of the dark energy into radiation periodically ends the expansion acceleration. This leads to a radiation-dominated Universe preceding a new ΛCDM type expansion. The model is constrained with Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations using supernovae, Hubble expansion, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), and cosmic microwave background data and fits the data as well as the ΛCDM one.

It is known that the Higgs potential in the Standard Model can drive a successful inflation as long as the Higgs field couples non-minimally to gravity. It is then inevitable to take into account the loop corrections of the Standard Model particles to the Higgs potential in the Higgs inflation. In this paper, we discuss the one-loop corrections at finite temperature to the curvature perturbation generated during the Higgs inflation. We find that the thermal loop effects can suppress the power of the curvature perturbation at large scales, thus resulting in a low quadrupole of the temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background., Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, expanded discussion on RG evolution and thermal equilibrium condition, references added, matches published version

Abiotic emergence of ordered information stored in the form of RNA is an important unresolved problem concerning the origin of life. A polymer longer than 40--100 nucleotides is necessary to expect a self-replicating activity, but the formation of such a long polymer having a correct nucleotide sequence by random reactions seems statistically unlikely. However, our universe, created by a single inflation event, likely includes more than $10^{100}$ Sun-like stars. If life can emerge at least once in such a large volume, it is not in contradiction with our observations of life on Earth, even if the expected number of abiogenesis events is negligibly small within the observable universe that contains only $10^{22}$ stars. Here, a quantitative relation is derived between the minimum RNA length $l_{\min}$ required to be the first biological polymer, and the universe size necessary to expect the formation of such a long and active RNA by randomly adding monomers. It is then shown that an active RNA can indeed be produced somewhere in an inflationary universe, giving a solution to the abiotic polymerization problem. On the other hand, $l_{\min}$ must be shorter than $\sim$20 nucleotides for the abiogenesis probability close to unity on a terrestrial planet, but a self-replicating activity is not expected for such a short RNA. Therefore, if extraterrestrial organisms of a different origin from those on Earth are discovered in the future, it would imply an unknown mechanism at work to polymerize nucleotides much faster than random statistical processes., Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. matches the published version from Scientific Reports

We investigate a model of inflationary cosmology where the minimally coupled scalar field theory is modified by additional correction terms. Among the most general ten correction terms remarked by Weinberg in context of effective field theory, we consider only two terms, $f_1(\phi) R^2$ and $f_2(\phi) R^{ab}R_{ab}$, following the work by Noh and Hwang where $f_1$ and $f_2$ are constant. The fourth order differential equations for the background universe and the tensor-type perturbation are derived out of this model. We show that these equations can be reduced to second order equations, supposing that $f_n$ are small. From these approximated equations, we find that the propagation speed of gravitational wave is slightly less than the speed of light due to $f_2$ term, and that the evolution of the tensor-type perturbation is conserved in the large scale limit.

A solution to the Einstein equations for a closed null string with axial symmetry that is radially increases its size is found. The possibility of choosing the ideal gas of null strings as a dominant source of gravity is confirmed in the study of the null string inflation mechanism in Friedmann–Robertson–Walker spaces. The absence of a limit transition between the solution that is found and the solution for a closed circular null string that is radially changing its size is shown. This indicates the stability of the configuration of a closed circular null string during its motion in an external gravitational field. It is noted that part of the characteristics of the null string gas, such as the ability to form a domain structure and existence of stable polarized states (multi-string systems), are independent of the shape of null string, but the dynamics of the test null string in a field of such multi-string system has singularities.

The D-term inflation in supergravity, in the braneworld Randall Sundrum II (RSII) context, has been proposed to solve some problems related to the four-dimensional inflation model. That scenario is based on a modification of the Friedmann equation by the addition of the fifth dimension, which corresponds to an energy, called brane tension λ. Therefore, we propose the investigation of the brane effect on the reheating epoch. In this context, we have analyzed the process of reheating and focused on the variation of the temperature value Tre. We found that it depends on all parameters, and the value found is in the range Tre ∼ (7.5 × 108−8 × 1010) GeV, which is consistent with the thermal leptogenesis (Tre ≥ 108 GeV).

The anomalously large radii of highly-irradiated gaseous exoplanets has long been a mystery. One mechanism suggested as a solution for hot Jupiters is the heating of the deep atmosphere via the vertical advection of potential temperature resulting in an increased internal entropy. Here we intend to explore if this mechanism can also explain the observed brown dwarf radii trend: a general increase in radius with irradiation, with an exception for highly-irradiated brown dwarfs orbiting white dwarfs. We use a 3D GCM, DYNAMICO, to run a series of long-timescale models of the atmospheres of Kepler-13Ab, KELT-1b, and SDSS1411B. These models allow us to explore not only if a stable advective adiabat can develop, but also the associated dynamics. We find that our models fall into two distinct regimes: Kepler-13Ab and KELT-1b both show signs of significant deep heating and hence maintain adiabats that are hotter than 1D models predict. On the other hand, SDSS1411B exhibits a much weaker downward heating profile which not only struggles to heat the interior under ideal conditions, but is highly sensitive to the presence of deep radiative dynamics. We find that the vertical advection of potential temperature by large-scale atmospheric circulations represents a robust mechanism to explain the trend of increasing inflation with irradiation, including the exception for highly irradiated brown dwarfs orbiting white dwarfs. This can be understood as occurring due to the role that increasing rotational influence plays on mid- to-high latitude advective dynamics. Furthermore, when paired with a suitable parametrisation of the outer atmosphere irradiation profile, this mechanism alone could potentially provide a complete explanation for the observed levels of inflation in our brown dwarfs., 20 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A. Updated version with a fixed typo in the vertical enthalpy flux equation

A problematic feature of low energy scale inflationary models, such as Starobinsky inflation, in a spatially closed universe is the occurrence of a recollapse and a big crunch singularity before inflation can even set in. In a recent work it was shown that this problem can be successfully resolved in loop quantum cosmology for a large class of initial conditions due to a non-singular cyclic evolution and a hysteresis-like phenomena. However, for certain highly unfavorable initial conditions the onset of inflation was still difficult to obtain. In this work, we explore the role of dissipative particle production, which is typical in warm inflation scenario, in the above setting. We find that entropy production sourced by such dissipative effects makes hysteresis-like phenomena stronger. As a result, the onset of inflation is quick in general including for highly unfavorable initial conditions where it fails or is significantly delayed in the absence of dissipative effects. We phenomenologically consider three warm inflation scenarios with distinct forms of dissipation coefficient, and from dynamical solutions and phase space portraits find that the phase space of favorable initial conditions turns out to be much larger than in cold inflation., 19 pages, 12 figures. Discussion revised. References added. To appear in Phys. Rev. D

In this paper we study two different cases of inhomogeneous EOS of the form p_d = \omega(t)\rho_d+w_1 f(H, t) . We derive the energy density of dark fluid and dark matter component for both the cases. Further we calculate the evolution of energy density, gravitational constant and cosmological constant. We also explore the finite time singularity and thermodynamic stability conditions for the two cases of EOS. Finally, we discuss the thermodynamics of inhomogeneous EOS with the derivation of internal energy, Temperature and entropy and also show that all the stability conditions are satisfied for the two cases of EOS, Comment: 28 pages, 26 figures

We consider a short rollercoaster cosmology based on two stages of monodromy inflation separated by a stage of matter domination, generated after the early inflaton falls out of slow roll. If the first stage is controlled by a flat potential, V∼ϕp with p<1 and lasts N∼30–40 e-folds, the scalar and tensor perturbations at the largest scales will fit the CMB perfectly, and produce relic gravity waves with 0.02≲r≲0.06, which can be tested by LiteBIRD and CMB-S4 experiments. If in addition the first inflaton is strongly coupled to a hidden sector U(1), there will be an enhanced production of vector fluctuations near the end of the first stage of inflation. These modes convert rapidly to tensors during the short epoch of matter domination, and then get pushed to superhorizon scales by the second stage of inflation, lasting another 20–30 e-folds. This band of gravity waves is chiral, arrives today with wavelengths in the range of 108 km, and with amplitudes greatly enhanced compared to the long wavelength CMB modes by vector sources. It is therefore accessible to LISA. Thus our model presents a rare early universe theory predicting several simultaneous signals testable by a broad range of gravity wave searches in the very near future.

We analyze field fluctuations during an ultra slow-roll phase in the stochastic picture of inflation and the resulting non-Gaussian curvature perturbation, fully including the gravitational backreaction of the field's velocity. By working to leading order in a gradient expansion, we first demonstrate that consistency with the momentum constraint of general relativity prevents the field velocity from having a stochastic source, reflecting the existence of a single scalar dynamical degree of freedom on long wavelengths. We then focus on a completely level potential surface, $V={V}_{0}$, extending from a specified exit point ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$, where slow roll resumes or inflation ends, to $\ensuremath{\phi}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}+\ensuremath{\infty}$. We compute the probability distribution in the number of $e$-folds $\mathcal{N}$ required to reach ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$, which allows for the computation of the curvature perturbation. We find that, if the field's initial velocity is high enough, all points eventually exit through ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$ and a finite curvature perturbation is generated. On the contrary, if the initial velocity is low, some points enter an eternally inflating regime despite the existence of ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{\mathrm{e}}$. In that case, the probability distribution for $\mathcal{N}$, although normalizable, does not possess finite moments, leading to a divergent curvature perturbation.

We extend the cosmological bootstrap to correlators involving massless particles with spin. In de Sitter space, these correlators are constrained both by symmetries and by locality. In particular, the de Sitter isometries become conformal symmetries on the future boundary of the spacetime, which are reflected in a set of Ward identities that the boundary correlators must satisfy. We solve these Ward identities by acting with weight-shifting operators on scalar seed solutions. Using this weight-shifting approach, we derive three- and four-point correlators of massless spin-1 and spin-2 fields with conformally coupled scalars. Four-point functions arising from tree-level exchange are singular in particular kinematic configurations, and the coefficients of these singularities satisfy certain factorization properties. We show that in many cases these factorization limits fix the structure of the correlators uniquely, without having to solve the conformal Ward identities. The additional constraint of locality for massless spinning particles manifests itself as current conservation on the boundary. We find that the four-point functions only satisfy current conservation if the s, t, and u-channels are related to each other, leading to nontrivial constraints on the couplings between the conserved currents and other operators in the theory. For spin-1 currents this implies charge conservation, while for spin-2 currents we recover the equivalence principle from a purely boundary perspective. For multiple spin-1 fields, we recover the structure of Yang-Mills theory. Finally, we apply our methods to slow-roll inflation and derive a few phenomenologically relevant scalar-tensor three-point functions., 128 pages, 15 figures; V3: minor corrections and references added

We examine an intriguing possibility that a single field is responsible for both inflation and dark matter, focussing on the minimal set-up where inflation is driven by a scalar coupling to curvature. We study in detail the reheating process in this framework, which amounts mainly to particle production in a quartic potential, and distinguish thermal and non-thermal dark matter options. In the non-thermal case, the reheating is impeded by backreaction and rescattering, making this possibility unrealistic. On the other hand, thermalized dark matter is viable, yet the unitarity bound forces the inflaton mass into a narrow window close to half the Higgs mass., Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures

In this letter we clarify that the monopole problem can always be solved in bosonic holographic cosmology, by the analogue of "dilution" in inflation, which is the fact that the {\em electric} current is an irrelevant operator in the dual field theory. We show that not only specific toy models solve the problem, but any purely bosonic member of the phenomenological class, of super-renormalizable, generalized conformal symmetric models., 8 pages, 2 figures

The Higgs field is an attractive candidate for the inflaton because it is an observationally confirmed fundamental scalar field. Importantly, it can be modeled by the most general renormalizable scalar potential. However, if the classical Higgs potential is used in models of inflation, it is ruled out by detailed observations of the cosmic microwave background. Here, a new application of non-adiabatic quantum dynamics to cosmological models is shown to lead to a multi-field Higgs-like potential, consistent with observations of a slightly red-tilted power spectrum and a small tensor-to-scalar ratio, without requiring non-standard ingredients. These methods naturally lead to novel effects in the beginning of inflation, circumventing common fine-tuning issues by an application of uncertainty relations to estimate the initial quantum fluctuations in the early universe. Moreover, inflation ends smoothly as a consequence of the derived multi-field interactions., 16 pages, 5 figures

In the standard inflationary paradigm, the seeds for cosmic structures are assumed to be of quantum origin. During inflation, the quantum fluctuations of the fields are stretched by the cosmic expansion to macroscopic sizes and become classical, then growing through gravitational collapse to eventually form the structures we observe today. Thermal fluctuations introduce another possible origin for small inhomogeneities. In the early universe the temperatures could be very high, and there are several important cosmological models where thermal fluctuations could be the main ingredient responsible for seeding the inhomogeneities. In this work it is suggested a general phenomenological parametrization for a class of early universe models described by an effective equation of state which is a function of the Hubble parameter. In such models, the main seeds of cosmological fluctuation are thermal fluctuations that can appear even at classical level. The proposed effective equation of state leads to a description of the universe which have the advantage of avoiding the initial singularity problem and also the problems associated with reheating, providing a smooth transition from an era with weff∼−1 to an era with w=1/3. Motivated by the formalism previously developed in the literature to compute the spectrum from thermal fluctuations [1], we compute for this class of models, the power spectrum of scalar and tensor perturbations, in addition to non-gaussianity parameters, which allows us to constraint the free parameters of this class of models with the observational results.

Little is known about dark matter beyond the fact that it does not interact with the standard model or itself, or else does so incredibly weakly. A natural candidate, given the history of no-go theorems against their interactions, are higher spin fields. Here we develop the scenario of higher spin (spin $s>2$) dark matter. We show that the gravitational production of superheavy bosonic higher spin fields during inflation can provide all the dark matter we observe today. We consider the observable signatures, and find a potential characteristic signature of bosonic higher spin dark matter in directional direct detection; we find that there are distinct spin-dependent contributions to the double differential recoil rate, which complement the oscillatory imprint of higher spin fields in the cosmic microwave background. We consider the extension to higher spin fermions and supersymmetric higher spins., 11 pages, 2 figures

Most of the inflationary scenarios that try to explain the origin of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) from the enhancements of the power spectrum to values of order one, at the relevant scales, run into clashes with the Effective Field Theory (EFT) criteria or fail to enhance the power spectrum to such large amplitudes. In this paper, we unravel a mechanism for enhancing the power spectrum during inflation that does not use the flattening of the potential or reduction of the sound speed of scalar perturbations. The mechanism is based on this observation in the formalism of Extended EFT of inflation (EEFToI) with the sixth order polynomial dispersion relation for scalar perturbations that if the quartic coefficient in the dispersion relation is negative and smaller than a certain threshold, the amplitude of the power spectrum is enhanced substantially. The instability mechanism must arrange to kick in at the scales of interest related to the mass of the PBHs one would like to produce, which can be ten(s) of solar mass PBHs, suitable for LIGO events, or $10^{-17}-10^{-13}$ solar mass PBHs, which can comprise the whole dark matter energy density. We argue that the strong coupling is avoided for the range of parameters that the mechanisms enhance the power spectrum to the required amount., v1:1+18 pages, 5 figures; v2: 1+21 pages, 5 figures, matched the JHEP version

We study implications of perturbative unitarity for quasi-single field inflation with the inflaton and one massive scalar. Analyzing high energy scattering, we show that non-Gaussianities with $|f_{\rm NL}|\gtrsim1$ cannot be realized without turning on interactions which violate unitarity at a high energy scale. Then, we provide a relation between $f_{\rm NL}$ and the scale of new physics that is required for UV completion. In particular we find that for the Hubble scale $H\gtrsim 6\times 10^{9}$ GeV, Planck suppressed operators can easily generate too large non-Gaussanities and so it is hard to realize successful quasi-single field inflation without introducing a mechanism to suppress quantum gravity corrections. Also we generalize the analysis to the regime where the isocurvature mode is heavy and the inflationary dynamics is captured by the inflaton effective theory. Requiring perturbative unitarity of the two-scalar UV models with the inflaton and one heavy scalar, we clarify the parameter space of the $P(X,\phi)$ model which is UV completable by a single heavy scalar., Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures

We investigate the inflationary consequences of the oscillating dark energy model proposed by Ti��n [\href{https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.101.063531}{Phys. Rev. D {\bf 101}, 063531 (2020)}], which aims to solve the cosmological coincidence problem with multi-accelerating Universe (MAU). We point out that the inflationary dynamics belong to slow-roll inflation. The spectral index of scalar perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ are shown to be consistent with current \textit{Planck} measurements. Especially, this model predicts $r\sim10^{-7}$, which is far below the observation limits. This result motivates us to explore the smallness of $r$ in the general MAU. We propose a quintessential generalization of the original model and prove $r, 8 pages, 3 figures, published in Phys. Rev. D

The Swampland de Sitter conjecture in combination with upper limits on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ derived from observations of the cosmic microwave background endangers the paradigm of slow-roll single field inflation. This conjecture constrains the first and the second derivatives of the inflationary potential in terms of two ${\cal O} (1)$ constants $c$ and $c'$. In view of these restrictions we reexamine single-field inflationary potentials with $S$-duality symmetry, which ameliorate the unlikeliness problem of the initial condition. We compute $r$ at next-to-leading order in slow-roll parameters for the most general form of $S$-dual potentials and confront model predictions to constraints imposed by the de Sitter conjecture. We find that $c \sim {\cal O} (10^{-1})$ and $c' \sim {\cal O} (10^{-2})$ can accommodate the 95\% CL upper limit on $r$. By imposing at least 50 $e$-folds of inflation with the effective field theory description only valid over a field displacement ${\cal O} (1)$ when measured as a distance in the target space geometry, we further restrict $c \sim {\cal O} (10^{-2})$, while the constraint on $c'$ remains unchanged. We comment on how to accommodate the required small values of $c$ and $c'$., Extensive discussion on the ambiguity of the definition of slow-roll-parameters in relation to how this uncertainty may help ameliorate the tension between single-field inflationary models and the de Sitter Swampland conjecture. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

We utilize a recently proposed cubic nilpotent superfield to realize inflation in supergravity with the minimal degrees of freedom: the inflaton, graviton, and massive gravitino. As an advantage, the resultant model is free from the catastrophic production of gravitinos due to its vanishing propagation speed. However, the model suffers from the standard gravitino problem, and its viability depends on the mass spectrum and the thermal history of the universe., 30 pages; published version (very minor revision; references added)

We study the ultraviolet behaviour of Higgs inflation models above the apparent unitarity violation scale arising from the large non minimal coupling to gravity, by computing on-shell 4-point scattering amplitudes in the presence of a large inflaton background, away from the electroweak vacuum. We find that all tree-level amplitudes are well behaved at high energies below the inflaton background that can thus take values up to the Planck scale. This result holds in both the metric and Palatini formulation, and is independent of the frame (Jordan or Einstein) as expected. The same result also holds if an $R^2$ term is added to the action., 21 pages, 0 figures

We study the backreaction effect of a large axion field excursion on the saxion partner residing in the same $\mathcal{N}=1$ multiplet. Such configurations are relevant in attempts to realize axion monodromy inflation in string compactifications. We work in the complex structure moduli sector of Calabi-Yau fourfold compactifications of F-theory with four-form fluxes, which covers many of the known Type II orientifold flux compactifications. Noting that axions can only arise near the boundary of the moduli space, the powerful results of asymptotic Hodge theory provide an ideal set of tools to draw general conclusions without the need to focus on specific geometric examples. We find that the boundary structure engraves a remarkable pattern in all possible scalar potentials generated by background fluxes. By studying the Newton polygons of the extremization conditions of all allowed scalar potentials and realizing the backreaction effects as Puiseux expansions, we find that this pattern forces a universal backreaction behavior of the large axion field on its saxion partner., Comment: 38 pages, 5 figures, updated references, published version

We present a minimal approach to the generation of the baryon ($B$) asymmetry of the Universe, in which the asymmetry is generated in a complex inflaton condensate via $B$-violating quadratic inflaton potential terms using the Affleck-Dine (AD) mechanism. We show that the $B$-violating quadratic mass terms create an oscillating asymmetry in the complex inflaton condensate at late times. The final asymmetry transferred to the Standard Model sector at reheating is naturally reduced to the magnitude of the observed $B$ asymmetry by the effect of averaging over the $B$ oscillations. This approach to baryogenesis can easily be realised in a wide range of inflation models. We also show that AD baryogenesis via inflaton mass terms is free of the tuning of field dynamics required by the conventional AD mechanism.

High dissipative regime of warm pseudoscalar inflation model \cite{Kamali:2019ppi} with an approximately constant value of dissipation parameter $Q$ is studied. { Intermediate solution of the scale-factor related to the accelerated expansion of the Universe which is rolled out by observational data in the context of standard (cold) model of inflation is used.} There is a region of free parameters phase-space of the model which is interestingly compatible with recent observational data. It is discussed that the model is also compatible with the swampland criteria in a broad range of parameters phase-space and TCC in a limited area of parameters., Published by EPJC

In this paper, we first provide a brief review of the effective dynamics of two recently well-studied models of modified loop quantum cosmologies (mLQCs), which arise from different regularizations of the Hamiltonian constraint and show the robustness of a generic resolution of the big bang singularity, replaced by a quantum bounce due to non-perturbative Planck scale effects. As in loop quantum cosmology (LQC), in these modified models the slow-roll inflation happens generically. We consider the cosmological perturbations following the dressed and hybrid approaches and clarify some subtle issues regarding the ambiguity of the extension of the effective potential of the scalar perturbations across the quantum bounce, and the choice of initial conditions. Both of the modified regularizations yield primordial power spectra that are consistent with current observations for the Starobinsky potential within the framework of either the dressed or the hybrid approach. But differences in primordial power spectra are identified among the mLQCs and LQC. In addition, for mLQC-I, striking differences arise between the dressed and hybrid approaches in the infrared and oscillatory regimes. While the differences between the two modified models can be attributed to differences in the Planck scale physics, the permissible choices of the initial conditions and the differences between the two perturbation approaches have been reported for the first time. All these differences, due to either the different regularizations or the different perturbation approaches in principle can be observed in terms of non-Gaussianities., revtex4, 11 figures, and no tables. Contribution to the Special Issue "Loop Quantum Cosmology" in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences, edited by B. Elizaga-Navascu\'es, G. Mena-Marug\'an, and F. Vidotto

We consider thermal, trapped and chromo-natural inflation in light of the swampland criteria and the Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (TCC). Since thermal inflation occurs at energies low compared to those of Grand Unification, it is consistent with the TCC, and it is also consistent with the refined swampland conditions. Trapped and chromo-natural inflation are candidates for primordial (high energy scale) inflation. Since in both of these scenarios there are effective damping terms in the scalar field equation of motion, the models can easily be consistent with the swampland criteria. The TCC, on the other hand, constrains these scenarios to only take place at low energies., 8 pages

We study the phenomenon of gravitational particle production as applied to a scalar spectator field in the context of $\alpha$-attractor inflation. Assuming that the scalar has a minimal coupling to gravity, we calculate the abundance of gravitationally-produced particles as a function of the spectator's mass $m_\chi$ and the inflaton's $\alpha$ parameter. If the spectator is stable and sufficiently weakly coupled, such that it does not thermalize after reheating, then a population of spin-0 particles is predicted to survive in the universe today, providing a candidate for dark matter. Inhomogeneities in the spatial distribution of dark matter correspond to an isocurvature component, which can be probed by measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies. We calculate the dark matter-photon isocurvature power spectrum and by comparing with upper limits from Planck, we infer constraints on $m_\chi$ and $\alpha$. If the scalar spectator makes up all of the dark matter today, then for $\alpha = 10$ and $T_\text{RH} = 10^4 \ \mathrm{GeV}$ we obtain $m_\chi > 1.8 \times 10^{13} \ \mathrm{GeV} \approx 1.2 \, m_\phi$, where $m_\phi$ is the inflaton's mass., Comment: 21 pages + references, 8 figures; added references, matches PRD

We construct phase-space structure of a typical higher-order theory of gravity, in the background of anisotropic Bianchi-1 mini-superspace, following `Modified Horowitz Formalism' as well as applying `Dirac Algorithm' (after taking care of the divergent terms), and establish equivalence. Canonical quantization, and semiclassical approximation are performed to expatiate the fact that such a quantum theory transits successfully to a classical de-Sitter universe. Inflation has thereafter been studied. The numerical values of the inflationary parameters show excellent agreement with the latest released Planck's data., 28 pages. 0 figures