We consider non-tachyonic hybrid inflation in the context of the braneworld cosmology. When one considers models for brane inflation, hybrid inflation is a natural consequence of the tachyon condensation if it appears at the end of inflation. In this case, however, reheating is a difficult problem due to the peculiar properties of the tachyon. In this paper we show some models for brane inflati...

Using only general properties of the tachyon potential we show that inflation may be generic when many branes and anti-branes become coincident. Inflation may occur because of: (1) the assistance of the many diagonal tachyon fields; (2) when the tachyons condense in a staggered fashion; or (3) when some of them condense very late. We point out that such inflation is in some sense a stringy impl...

An epoch of accelerated expansion, or inflation, in the early universe solves several cosmological problems. While there are many models of inflation only recently has it become possible to discriminate between some of the models using observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation and large-scale structure. In this talk, we discuss inflation and its observational consequences, and t...

In this paper we show that certain types of cosmological brane configurations may induce topological inflation. In generic models for topological inflation, there is a strict bound for the potential of the inflaton field. Naively, it seems that these constraints can be removed if inflation starts with a hybrid potential. However, it is difficult to combine topological inflation and hybrid infla...

When the central banker’s loss function is asymmetric, changes in the volatility of inflation and/or unemployment affect equilibrium inflation. This suggests that changing macroeconomic volatilities may be an important driving force behind trends in observed inflation. Previous evidence, which has offered support for this idea, suffers from a spurious regression problem. Once this problem is co...

Recent analysis of the WMAP three year data reveals f local NL ≃ 86.8 in the WMAP convention. It is necessary to make sure whether general single field inflation can produce a large positive fNL before turning to other scenarios. We give some examples to generate a large positive f equil NL in general single field inflation. Our models are different from ghost inflation. Due to the appearance o...

The central banks of New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom have recently decided to make price stability the overriding goal of monetary policy. Similar proposals in the United States have received a lukewarm reception. Although some opponents have argued that moderate inflation is beneficial, many concede its effect on economic welfare is detrimental.1 Instead, they argue that a price st...

C apacity utilization in U.S. industry features prominently in discussions of inflation. This prominence derives from the widely held viewpoint that “high” rates of capacity utilization are tantamount to resourceshortage conditions or “bottlenecks” that inevitably erupt into price inflation. For instance, an article in Citicorp’s Economic Week (January 18, 1994) argues: “In the past, a utilizat...