Effective field theory of waterfall in hybrid inflation

Dante’s Waterfall: A Hybrid Model of Inflation

Given recent observational results from the BICEP2 and Planck collaborations regarding the ratio of power in tensor to scalar modes in the cosmic microwave background radiation, and the implications of this ratio for the possible existence of large gravity waves resulting from inflation, it is of current interest to investigate models of inflation which are capable of producing large gravity wa...

Effective Field Theory for Inflation

The methods of effective field theory are used to study generic theories of inflation with a single inflaton field. For scalar modes, the leading corrections to the R correlation function are found to be purely of the k-inflation type. For tensor modes the leading corrections to the correlation function arise from terms in the action that are quadratic in the curvature, including a parity-viola...

Effective Field Theories for Inflation

Field Evolution Leading to Hybrid Inflation

In general the onset of hybrid inflation requires an extremely homogeneous field configuration at the end of the Planck era. The field φ orthogonal to the inflaton σ must be zero with high accuracy over a range exceeding the initial horizon size ∼ m Pl by about two orders of magnitude. We consider a supersymmetric model that permits the decay of the oscillating field φ into light particles. We ...

String Theory and Hybrid Inflation/Acceleration

We find a description of hybrid inflation in (3+1)-dimensions using brane dynamics of Hanany-Witten type. P-term inflation/acceleration of the universe with the hybrid potential has a slow-roll de Sitter stage and a waterfall stage which leads towards an N = 2 supersymmetric ground state. We identify the slow-roll stage of inflation with a non-supersymmetric ‘Coulomb phase’ with Fayet-Iliopoulo...