Trapped Inflation

By D. Green, B. Horn, L. Senatore, E. Silverstein. 2009

154 citations recorded by the source corpus.

We analyze a distinctive mechanism for inflation in which particle production slows down a scalar field on a steep potential, and show how it descends from angular moduli in string compactifications. The analysis of density perturbations – taking into account the integrated effect of the produced particles and their quantum fluctuations – requires somewhat new techniques that we develop. We then determine the conditions for this effect to produce sixty e-foldings of inflation with the correct amplitude of density perturbations at the Gaussian level, and show that these requirements can be straightforwardly satisfied. Finally, we estimate the amplitude of the non-Gaussianity in the power spectrum and find a significant equilateral contribution. February 24, 2009 ar X iv :0 90 2. 10 06 v2 [ he pth ] 2 4 Fe b 20 09

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cb63d80a65955c95a5c63237bbd79d73f067d6c7

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Astronomy and Astrophysics

1. E. Pajer
2. Marco Peloso
3. D. Baumann
4. L. Senatore
5. Liam McAllister
6. M. Zaldarriaga
7. Xingang Chen
8. D. Green

In Nuclear and High Energy Physics

1. E. Pajer
2. Marco Peloso
3. D. Baumann
4. Liam McAllister
5. L. Senatore
6. M. Zaldarriaga
7. N. Barnaby
8. Xingang Chen

Citations in the corpus

• Inflation and String Theory (2014, methodology): “1, we describe trapped inflation [622], in which dissipative dynamics arises from repeated production of particles or strings.”
• Galaxy Bias and non-Linear Structure Formation in General Relativity (2011, background): “(10)One can construct examples were there is an intermediate “squeezed regime” over which the scaling is different than k(2) but for sufficiently large ratio the scaling needs to be k(2) [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36].”
• Gauge Field Production in Axion Inflation: Consequences for Monodromy, non-Gaussianity in the CMB, and Gravitational Waves at Interferometers (2011, background): “1 For example: small sound speed [5], higher derivatives [6], special initial conditions [7, 8, 11], potentials with sharp features [12, 13], dissipative effects [14, 15], turning trajectories [16], post-inflationary effects (such as preheating [17, 18]), etc.”
• Dark energy, α-attractors, and large-scale structure surveys (2017, unknown): “considered above one considers a more general interaction ∑ g2 i 2 (φ−φi)(2)σ(2) with |φi| √ 6α, one may have a chain of particle production events at each point φ = φi [123, 125].”
• The effective field theory of multifield inflation (2010, background): “Inflationary fluctuations that are not in their vacuum at the time of horizon crossing have been recently considered in [13, 14, 15].”
• On loops in inflation (2009, background): “Though for standard slow roll inflation the effect was is in practice unobservable it opened the way to formulate alternative theories which predict much higher levels of non-gaussianities (see for example [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]) and are already constrained by existing data [13, 14, 15].”
• Non-Gaussianities in single field inflation and their optimal limits from the WMAP 5-year data (2009, methodology): “We will show however that the same data analysis technique is sufficient for all these cases.”
• Simple exercises to flatten your potential (2010, background): “The string theory motivated possibility of many additional light fields assisting inflation has been addressed in works such as [9], and the tendency of particle production to slow down the inflaton was analyzed in [10].”
• Equilateral Non-Gaussianity and New Physics on the Horizon (2011, background): “6) we observe that the non-linearly realized symmetry relates a small cs (large M2) to large interactions and (4)The formalism does not capture inflationary models with significant dissipative effects, such as [19, 20].”
• Particle production during inflation and gravitational waves detectable by ground-based interferometers (2011, background): “A scenario – “trapped inflation” – where explosive production of particles occurs several times per efolding of inflation has been considered in [16].”
• A review of axion inflation in the era of Planck (2013, background): “Shift-symmetry-violating couplings to a large number of fields have also been proposed [41].”
• Phenomenology of a pseudo-scalar inflaton: naturally large nongaussianity (2011, methodology): “To obtain observable nongaussianity, previous studies have invoked non-standard field theories (involving small sounds speed [23] or higher derivatives [5]), or initial conditions [23, 24, 25, 26], potentials with sharp features [27, 28], dissipative effects [3], fine-tuned inflationary trajectories”
• Non-Gaussianities and chiral gravitational waves in natural steep inflation (2012, background): “This situation is analogous to that leading to warm inflation [10, 11, 12], to trapped inflation [13] and, more recently, to the mechanism discussed in [14].”
• Primordial Non-Gaussianities from Inflation Models (2010, background): “For example, such cases can happen in multifield models where there are particle creation [82, 83] (see however [84]).”