Search

We thank Prateek Agrawal, Diego Blas, Adam Falkowski, Bohdan Grzadkowski, Takeshi Kobayashi, Eric Madge, Manuel Masip, Gilad Perez, Maxim Pospelov, Jennifer Schober, Pedro Schwaller, Javi Serra, Anna Socha, Walter Tangarife, Tomer Volansky, and TienTien Yu for useful comments and discussions. This work has been partially supported by MINECO grants PID2019-106087GB-C22, including ERDF (J.S., R.V.M.), PID2019105943GB-I00 (M.B.G.), Junta de Andalucia Projects FQM-101, A-FQM-211-UGR18, P18FR-4314, (fondos FEDER), and SOMM17/6104/UGR (M.B.G., J.S., R.V.M.). L.U. acknowledges support from the PRIN project "Search for the Fundamental Laws and Constituents" (2015P5SBHT_002). R.V.M. would also like to acknowledge the Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) of the Cluster of Excellence PRISMA+ (Project ID 39083149) for their hospitality and partial support as well as participants of The Mysterious Universe workshop for useful discussions and stimulating atmosphere while part of this work was completed., We study in detail a recently proposed mechanism for producing non-thermal dark photon dark matter at the end of inflation in the mass range mu eV less than or similar to m less than or similar to 10 TeV. A tachyonic instability induced by a rolling inflaton leads to the coherent production of dark (abelian) gauge bosons with a peak in the power spectrum corresponding to the Hubble scale at the end of inflation. As the Universe expands after inflation the dark photons redshift and, at some point in their cosmic evolution, they obtain a mass. We focus in particular on the case where the dark photons are relativistic at the time their mass is generated and examine the associated cosmic evolution to compute the relic abundance today. We also examine the late time power spectrum demonstrating explicitly that it preserves the peak generated at the end of inflation. We show that the peak corresponds to small physical scales today, l(today) similar to cm-100km, with large density fluctuations at l(today) leading to a clumpy nature for the dark photon dark matter. We also discuss potential phenomenology and future directions, briefly commenting on the non-relativistic case., Spanish Government PID2019-106087GB-C22, European Commission PID2019105943GB-I00, Junta de Andalucia FQM-101 A-FQM-211-UGR18 P18FR-4314, European Commission, PRIN project "Search for the Fundamental Laws and Constituents" 2015P5SBHT_002, Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics (MITP) of the Cluster of Excellence PRISMA+ 39083149 SOMM17/6104/UGR

The axion could be used as a probe for extra dimensions. In large extra dimensions, besides the QCD axion one obtains an infinite tower of massive Kaluza-Klein (KK) states. We describe the processes of KK axions production in the Sun via the axion-photon coupling, $g_{a\gamma\gamma}$, and we derive the number density of KK axions that get trapped into the solar gravitational field and then accumulate over cosmic times. The large multiplicity of states, as well as their masses in the keV-range, deeply alter the phenomenology of the axion. This scenario leads us to propose the presence of KK axions as an interpretation of the non-thermal distribution of the solar X-rays. In this work, we dedicate special attention on the astrophysical and cosmological bounds that apply on the model. In particular, we show how the KK axions may escape the EBL limit that constrains standard ALPs in the same mass range. Present searches for KK axions make use of the decay channel, $a\rightarrow\gamma\gamma$, for which we revise the event rate; our value lies orders of magnitude below the rate usually quoted in the literature. This major conclusion stems from recent measurements of the luminosity of the quiet Sun which acts as an irreducible limit. The revised model remains a viable and an attractive explanation for multiple astrophysical observations, and we propose several approaches to search for solar KK axions in the near future., Comment: version accepted in JCAP

This work has been partially supported by MICINN (PID2019-105943GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and Junta de Andalucía" grants P18-FR-4314 and A-FQM-211-UGR18., In warm inflation, dissipation due to the interactions of the inflaton field to other light degrees of freedom leads naturally to the enhancement of the primordial spectrum during the last 10-20 efolds of inflation. We study this effect in a variant of the Warm Little Inflaton model, where the inflaton couples to light scalars, with a quartic chaotic potential. These large fluctuations on re-entry will form light, evaporating Primordial Black Holes, with masses lighter than 10(6) g. But at the same time they will act as a source for the tensors at second order. The enhancement is maximal near the end of inflation, which result in a spectral density of Gravitational Waves (GW) peaked at frequencies f similar to O(10(5) - 10(6)) Hz today, and with an amplitude Omega(GW) similar to 10(-9). Although the frequency range is outside the reach of present and planned GW detectors, it might be reached in future high-frequency gravitational waves detectors, designed to search for cosmological stochastic GW backgrounds above MHz frequencies., MICINN (PID2019-105943GB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033), Junta de Andalucía" grants P18-FR-4314 and A-FQM-211-UGR18

We present the supersymmetric extension of the unified model for inflation and Dark Matter studied in ref. [1]. The scenario is based on the incomplete decay of the inflaton field into right-handed (s)neutrino pairs. By imposing a discrete interchange symmetry on the inflaton and the right-handed (s)neutrinos, one can ensure the stability of the inflaton field at the global minimum today, while still allowing it to partially decay and reheat the Universe after inflation. Compatibility of inflationary predictions, BBN bounds and obtaining the right DM abundance for the inflaton Dark Matter candidate typically requires large values of its coupling to the neutrino sector, and we use supersymmetry to protect the inflaton from potentially dangerous large radiative corrections which may spoil the required flatness of its potential. In addition, the inflaton will decay now predominantly into sneutrinos during reheating, which in turn give rise both to the thermal bath made of Standard Model particles, and inflaton particles. We have performed a thorough analysis of the reheating process following the evolution of all the partners involved, identifying the different regimes in the parameter space for the final Dark Matter candidate. This as usual can be a WIMP-like inflaton particle or an oscillating condensate, but we find a novel regime for a FIMP-like candidate.

We present the first quantum field theory model of inflation that is renormalizable in the matter sector, with a super-Hubble inflaton mass and sub-Planckian field excursions, which is thus technically natural and consistent with a high-energy completion within a theory of quantum gravity. This is done in the framework of warm inflation, where we show, for the first time, that strong dissipation can fully sustain a slow-roll trajectory with slow-roll parameters larger than unity in a way that is both theoretically and observationally consistent. The inflaton field corresponds to the relative phase between two complex scalar fields that collectively break a U(1)gauge symmetry, and dissipates its energy into scalar degrees of freedom in the warm cosmic heat bath. A discrete interchange symmetry protects the inflaton mass from large thermal corrections. We further show that the dissipation coefficient decreases with temperature in certain parametric regimes, which prevents a large growth of thermal inflaton fluctuations. We find, in particular, a very good agreement with the Planck legacy data for a simple quadratic inflaton potential, predicting a low tensor-to-scalar ratio r 10−5., UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC), MINECO FIS2016-78198-P, Junta de Andalucía SOMM/17/6104/UGR FQM101, National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) 302545/2017-4, Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) E-26/202.892/2017, Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology European Commission IF/01597/2015 PTDC/FIS-OUT/28407/2017, CFisUC strategic project UID/FIS/04564/2019, ENGAGE SKA POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022217

We study the dynamics and observational predictions of warm inflation within a supersymmetric distributed mass model. This dissipative mechanism is well described by the interactions between the inflaton and a tower of chiral multiplets with a mass gap, such that different bosonic and fermionic fields become light as the inflaton scans the tower during inflation. We examine inflation for various mass distributions, analyzing in detail the dynamics and observational predictions. We show, in particular, that warm inflation can be consistently realized in this scenario for a broad parametric range and in excellent agreement with the Planck legacy data. Distributed mass models can be viewed as realizations of the landscape property of string theory, with the mass distributions coming from the underlying spectra of the theory, which themselves would be affected by the vacuum of the theory. We discuss the recently proposed swampland criteria for inflation models on the landscape and analyze the conditions under which they can be met within the distributed mass warm inflation scenario. We demonstrate mass distribution models with a range of consistency with the swampland criteria including cases in excellent consistency., Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures

We explore the dynamics and observational predictions of the Warm Little Inflaton scenario, presently the simplest realization of warm inflation within a concrete quantum field theory construction. We consider three distinct types of scalar potentials for the inflaton, namely chaotic inflation with a quartic monomial potential, a Higgs-like symmetry breaking potential and a non-renormalizable plateau-like potential. In each case, we determine the parametric regimes in which the dynamical evolution is consistent for 50-60 e-folds of inflation, taking into account thermal corrections to the scalar potential and requiring, in particular, that the two fermions coupled directly to the inflaton remain relativistic and close to thermal equilibrium throughout the slow-roll regime and that the temperature is always below the underlying gauge symmetry breaking scale. We then compute the properties of the primordial spectrum of scalar curvature perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio in the allowed parametric regions and compare them with Planck data, showing that this scenario is theoretically and observationally successful for a broad range of parameter values., 14 pages, 8 figures

We study the problem of initial conditions for slow-roll inflation along a plateau-like scalar potential within the framework of fluctuation-dissipation dynamics. We consider, in particular, that inflation was preceded by a radiation-dominated epoch where the inflaton is coupled to light degrees of freedom and may reach a near-equilibrium state. We show that the homogeneous field component can be sufficiently localized at the origin to trigger a period of slow-roll if the interactions between the inflaton and the thermal degrees of freedom are sufficiently strong and argue that this does not necessarily spoil the flatness of the potential at the quantum level. We further conclude that the inflaton can still be held at the origin after its potential begins to dominate the energy balance, leading to a period of thermal inflation. This then suppresses the effects of nonlinear interactions between the homogeneous and inhomogeneous field modes that could prevent the former from entering a slow-roll regime. Finally, we discuss the possibility of an early period of chaotic inflation, at large field values, followed by a first stage of reheating and subsequently by a second inflationary epoch along the plateau about the origin. This scenario could prevent an early overclosure of the Universe, at the same time yielding a low tensor-to-scalar ratio in agreement with observations., 40 pages, 11 figures, matches version published in JCAP

We confront the warm inflation observational predictions directly with the latest CMB data. We focus on a linear temperature (T) dissipative coefficient combined with the simplest model of inflation, a quartic chaotic potential. Although excluded in its standard cold inflation version, dissipation reduces the tensor-to-scalar ratio and brings the quartic chaotic model within the observable allowed range. We will use the CosmoMC package to derive constraints on the model parameters: the combination of coupling constants giving rise to dissipation, the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom contributing to the thermal bath, and the quartic coupling in the inflaton potential. We do not assume a priori a power-law primordial spectrum, neither we fix the no. of e-folds at the horizon exit. The relation between the no. of e-folds and the comoving scale at horizon crossing is derived from the dynamics, depending on the parameters of the model, which allows us to obtain the $k$-dependent primordial power spectrum. We study the two possibilities considered in the literature for the spectrum, with the inflaton fluctuations having a thermal or a non-thermal origin, and discuss the ability of the data to constraint the model parameters., 24 pages, 10 figures, updated with some clarifications and minor changes, JCAP accepted version

The two approaches to compute perturbations in warm inflation are examined. It is shown that both approaches lead to different expressions for the amplitude of the primordial spectrum, with a difference between them of $\Upsilon/(4H)$ at leading order, where $\Upsilon$ is the dissipation coefficient. In terms of observables, this discrepancy can lead to the spectral index differing by up to order $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$, which is within precision demands for current CMB data. Thus, it is important to resolve this ambiguity to have reliable predictions from warm inflation. For this we prove the extent of this discrepancies by deriving a formula for the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio in each approach. In doing so, we find disparities to be more noticeable in a regime where dissipation is comparable with the expansion rate, which is a very important regime from a phenomenological point of view. To determine the extent of the discrepancy, several cases are examined, including quadratic, quartic and hybrid potentials with quadratic and $T-$dependent dissipative coefficients. The origin of the discrepancy is found to be due to the approximation performed in one of the methods, which underestimates the variation of the momentum perturbation with expansion. Once this is corrected, both approaches are then in agreement., Comment: 24 pages, 4 figures; corrected typos; appendix C revised

We show that the decay of the inflaton field may be incomplete, while nevertheless successfully reheating the universe and leaving a stable remnant that accounts for the present dark matter abundance. We note, in particular, that since the mass of the inflaton decay products is field-dependent, one can construct models, endowed with an appropriate discrete symmetry, where inflaton decay is kinematically forbidden at late times and only occurs during the initial stages of field oscillations after inflation. We show that this is sufficient to ensure the transition to a radiation-dominated era and that inflaton particles typically thermalize in the process. They eventually decouple and freeze out, yielding a thermal dark matter relic. We discuss possible implementations of this generic mechanism within consistent cosmological and particle physics scenarios, for both single-field and hybrid inflation., 16 pages, 8 figures

We propose the introduction of a Heisenberg symmetry of the Kahler potential to solve the problems with chaotic inflation in supergravity, as a viable alternative to the use of shift symmetry. The slope of the inflaton potential emerges from a small Heisenberg symmetry breaking term in the superpotential. The modulus field of the Heisenberg symmetry is stabilized and made heavy with the help of the large vacuum energy density during inflation. The observable predictions are indistinguishable from those of typical chaotic inflation models, however the form of the inflationary superpotential considered here may be interpreted in terms of sneutrino inflation arising from certain classes of string theory., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; reference added; version published in PLB

Minimal supersymmetric hybrid inflation based on a minimal Kahler potential predicts a spectral index n_s\gsim 0.98. On the other hand, WMAP three year data prefers a central value n_s \approx 0.95. We propose a class of supersymmetric hybrid inflation models based on the same minimal superpotential but with a non-minimal Kahler potential. Including radiative corrections using the one-loop effective potential, we show that the prediction for the spectral index is sensitive to the small non-minimal corrections, and can lead to a significantly red-tilted spectrum, in agreement with WMAP., 14 pages, 5 figures; footnote and reference added

Warm inflation includes inflaton interactions with other fields throughout the inflationary epoch instead of confining such interactions to a distinct reheating era. Previous investigations have shown that, when certain constraints on the dynamics of these interactions and the resultant radiation bath are satisfied, a low-momentum-dominated dissipation coefficient $\propto T^3/m_\chi^2$ can sustain an era of inflation compatible with CMB observations. In this work, we extend these analyses by including the pole-dominated dissipation term $\propto \sqrt{m_\chi T} \exp(-m_\chi/T)$. We find that, with this enhanced dissipation, certain models, notably the quadratic hilltop potential, perform significantly better. Specifically, we can achieve 50 e-folds of inflation and a spectral index compatible with Planck data while requiring fewer mediator field ($O(10^4)$ for the quadratic hilltop potential) and smaller coupling constants, opening up interesting model-building possibilities. We also highlight the significance of the specific parametric dependence of the dissipative coefficient which could prove useful in even greater reduction in field content., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures

We discuss the potentially important role played by preheating in certain variants of the curvaton mechanism in which isocurvature perturbations of a D-flat (and F-flat) direction become converted to curvature perturbations during reheating. We discover that parametric resonance of the isocurvature components amplifies the superhorizon fluctuations by a significant amount. As an example of these effects we develop a particle physics motivated model which involves hybrid inflation with the waterfall field N being responsible for generating the ? term, the right-handed neutrino mass scale, and the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scale. The role of the curvaton field can be played either by usual Higgs field, or the lightest right-handed sneutrino. Our new results show that it is possible to achieve the correct curvature perturbations for initial values of the curvaton fields of order the weak scale. In this model we show that the prediction for the spectral index of the final curvature perturbation only depends on the mass of the curvaton during inflation, where consistency with current observational data requires the ratio of this mass to the Hubble constant to be less-than-or-equals, slant 0.3.

The theory and methodology is developed to compute the bispectrum in warm inflation, leading to results for the non-linearity parameter and the shape of the bispectrum. Particular attention is paid to the study of the bispectrum in the regime of weak dissipation and how stochastic fluctuations affect the bispectrum. It is shown that, in contrast to the strong dissipative regime, the amplitude of non-Gaussianity is strongly dependent on the parameters governing the microscopic physics in the intermediate and weak dissipation warm inflation regimes. The most important results concern the shape of the bispectrum, which has two different, but distinct, forms in the weak and strong dissipative regimes. Comparison of shape functions could permit discrimination between the warm and cold paradigms of inflation from future precision data on primordial non-Gaussianity., 17 pages, 5 figures, minor changes; accepted for publication in JCAP

A generalization of the random fluid hydrodynamic fluctuation theory due to Landau and Lifshitz is applied to describe cosmological fluctuations in systems with radiation and scalar fields. The viscous pressures, parametrized in terms of the bulk and shear viscosity coefficients, and the respective random fluctuations in the radiation fluid are combined with the stochastic and dissipative scalar evolution equation. This results in a complete set of equations describing the perturbations in both scalar and radiation fluids. These derived equations are then studied, as an example, in the context of warm inflation. Similar treatments can be done for other cosmological early universe scenarios involving thermal or statistical fluctuations., Comment: 24 pages; 4 figures; published version in JCAP

The observed baryon asymmetry, as well as potentially an asymmetry in the dark matter sector, can be produced through dissipative particle production during inflation. A distinctive feature of this mechanism is the generation of matter isocurvature perturbations that are fully (anti-)correlated with the dominant adiabatic curvature perturbations. We show that chaotic warm inflation models yield anti-correlated isocurvature modes that may partially or even completely screen the contribution of primordial gravity waves to the CMB temperature power spectrum. The tensor-to-scalar ratio inferred from the latter may thus be parametrically smaller than the one deduced from B-mode polarization maps, which is particularly relevant in the light of the recently announced results of the BICEP2 experiment., 21 pages, 5 figures; minor modifications and added references; matches version published in JCAP

We discuss fine-tuning constraints on supergravity models. The tightest constraints come from the experimental mass limits on two key particles: the lightest CP even Higgs boson and the gluino. We also include the lightest chargino which is relevant when universal gaugino masses are assumed. For each of these particles we show how fine-tuning increases with the experimental mass limit, for four types of supergravity model: minimal supergravity, no-scale supergravity (relaxing the universal gaugino mass assumption), D-brane models and anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking models. Among these models, the D-brane model is less fine tuned.The experimental propects for an early discovery of Higgs and supersymmetry at LEP and the Tevatron are discussed in this framework., 17 pages, Latex, including 5 eps figures

The amplitude of primordial curvature perturbations is enhanced when a radiation bath at a temperature T>H is sustained during inflation by dissipative particle production, which is particularly significant when a non-trivial statistical ensemble of inflaton fluctuations is also maintained. Since gravitational modes are oblivious to dissipative dynamics, this generically lowers the tensor-to-scalar ratio and yields a modified consistency relation for warm inflation, as well as changing the tilt of the scalar spectrum. We show that this alters the landscape of observationally allowed inflationary models, with for example the quartic chaotic potential being in very good agreement with the Planck results for nearly-thermal inflaton fluctuations, whilst essentially ruled out for an underlying vacuum state. We also discuss other simple models that are in agreement with the Planck data within a renormalizable model of warm inflation., 7 pages, 1 figure; added discussion and references; matches published version in Phys. Lett. B

We analyze the dynamics and observational predictions of supersymmetric hybrid inflation in the warm regime, where dissipative effects are mediated by the waterfall fields and their subsequent decay into light degrees of freedom. This produces a quasi-thermal radiation bath with a slowly-varying temperature during inflation and further damps the inflaton's motion, thus prolonging inflation. As in the standard supercooled scenario, inflation ends when the waterfall fields become tachyonic and can no longer sustain a nearly constant vacuum energy, but the interaction with the radiation bath makes the waterfall fields effectively heavier and delays the phase transition to the supersymmetric minimum. In this work, we analyze for the first time the effects of finite temperature corrections and SUSY mass splittings on the quantum effective potential and the resulting dissipation coefficient. We show, in particular, that dissipation can significantly delay the onset of the tachyonic instability to yield 50-60 e-folds of inflation and an observationally consistent primordial spectrum, which is not possible in the standard supercooled regime when inflation is driven by radiative corrections., 28 pages, 5 figures

Recently there have been differing viewpoints on how to evaluate the curvature power spectrum generated during inflation. Since the primordial curvature power spectrum is the seed for structure formation and provides a link between observations and inflationary parameters, it is important to resolve any disagreements over the expression for the power spectrum. In this article, we discuss these differing viewpoints and indicate issues that are relevant to both approaches. We then argue why the standard expression is valid.

In a SUSY GUT having an extra reverse doublet-triplet splitting near the GUT scale, where the mass of an extra doublet is greater than the mass of an extra triplet by two orders of magnitude, a low prediction of $\alpha_s$ can be achieved through threshold corrections via the heavy scalars in the fundamental representations, making the prediction consistent with the values being suggested by low energy measurements. We implement this mechanism in a SUSY SU(5) GUT minimally extended to suppress Higgsino mediated proton decay. We also point out that as a consequence of this extension a natural scenario arises with a large hierarchy in Yukawa couplings ($ \lambda_t / \lambda_b \sim 40$). An experimental low value of $\alpha_s(m_Z)$ along with the non-observation of dimension-five proton decay modes at SuperKamiokande detector will favor such an extension of the SUSY SU(5) GUT over the minimal case.

In generic particle physics models, the inflaton field is coupled to other bosonic and fermionic fields that acquire large masses during inflation and may decay into light degrees of freedom. This leads to dissipative effects that modify the inflationary dynamics and may generate a nearly-thermal radiation bath, such that inflation occurs in a warm rather than supercooled environment. In this work, we perform a numerical computation and obtain expressions for the associated dissipation coefficient in supersymmetric models, focusing on the regime where the radiation temperature is below the heavy mass threshold. The dissipation coefficient receives contributions from the decay of both on-shell and off-shell degrees of freedom, which are dominant for small and large couplings, respectively, taking into account the light field multiplicities. In particular, we find that the contribution from on-shell decays, although Boltzmann-suppressed, can be much larger than that of virtual modes, which is bounded by the validity of a perturbative analysis. This result opens up new possibilities for realizations of warm inflation in supersymmetric field theories., 25 pages, 13 figures; revised version with new results added; published in JCAP

We review the calculation of the primordial curvature spectrum generated during warm inflation, including shear viscous effects. The primordial spectrum is dominated by the thermal fluctuations of the radiation bath, sourced by the dissipative term of the inflaton field. The dissipative coefficient Υ computed from first principles in the close-to-equilibrium approximation depends in general on the temperature T, and this dependence renders the system of the linear fluctuations coupled, inducing a growing mode in the fluctuations before horizon crossing. However, dissipation intrinsically means departures from equilibrium, and therefore the presence of a shear viscous pressure in the radiation fluid. This in turn acts as an extra friction term for the radiation fluctuations which tends to damp the growth of the perturbations. Independently of the T functional dependence of the dissipation and the shear viscosity, we find the condition under which the shear effect kills the growing mode in the spectrum.

We show that a baryon asymmetry can be generated by dissipative effects during warm inflation via a supersymmetric two-stage mechanism, where the inflaton is coupled to heavy mediator fields that then decay into light species through B- and CP-violating interactions. In contrast with thermal GUT baryogenesis models, the temperature during inflation is always below the heavy mass threshold, simultaneously suppressing thermal and quantum corrections to the inflaton potential and the production of dangerous GUT relics. This naturally gives a small baryon asymmetry close to the observed value, although parametrically larger values may be diluted after inflation along with any gravitino overabundance. Furthermore, this process yields baryon isocurvature perturbations within the range of future experiments, making this an attractive and testable model of GUT baryogenesis., Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure; version to be published in Phys. Lett. B

We compute the primordial curvature spectrum generated during warm inflation, including shear viscous effects. The primordial spectrum is dominated by the thermal fluctuations of the radiation bath, sourced by the dissipative term of the inflaton field. The dissipative coefficient \Upsilon, computed from first principles in the close-to-equilibrium approximation, depends in general on the temperature T, and this dependence renders the system of the linear fluctuations coupled. Whenever the dissipative coefficient is larger than the Hubble expansion rate H, there is a growing mode in the fluctuations before horizon crossing. However, dissipation intrinsically means departures from equilibrium, and therefore the presence of a shear viscous pressure in the radiation fluid. This in turn acts as an extra friction term for the radiation fluctuations that tends to damp the growth of the perturbations. Independently of the T functional dependence of the dissipation and the shear viscosity, we find that when the shear viscous coefficient \zeta_s is larger than 3 \rho_r/H at horizon crossing, \rho_r being the radiation energy density, the shear damping effect wins and there is no growing mode in the spectrum., Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures

We show that, in constructions with additional intersecting D-branes, brane-antibrane inflation may naturally occur in a warm regime, such that strong dissipative effects damp the inflaton's motion, greatly alleviating the associated eta-problem. We illustrate this for D3-antiD3 inflation in flat space with additional flavor D7-branes, where for both a Coulomb-like or a quadratic hybrid potential a sufficient number of e-folds may be obtained for perturbative couplings and O(10-10^4) branes. This is in clear contrast with the corresponding cold scenarios, thus setting the stage for more realistic constructions within fully stabilized compactifications. Such models generically predict a negligible amount of tensor perturbations and non-gaussianity f_NL \sim O(10)., 8 pages, 2 figures; version to be published in Physical Review D

The warm inflation paradigm considers the continuous production of radiation during inflation due to dissipative effects. In its strong dissipation limit, warm inflation gives way to a radiation dominated Universe. High scale inflation then yields a high reheating temperature, which then poses a severe gravitino overproduction problem for the supersymmetric realisations of warm inflation. In this paper we show that in certain class of supersymmetric models the dissipative dynamics of the inflaton is such that the field can avoid its complete decay after inflation. In some cases, the residual energy density stored in the field oscillations may come to dominate over the radiation bath at a later epoch. If the inflaton field finally decays much later than the onset of the matter dominated phase, the entropy produced in its decay may be sufficient to counteract the excess of gravitinos produced during the last stages of warm inflation., 12 pages, 4 figures

We explore the novel possibility that the inflaton responsible for cosmological inflation is a gauge non-singlet in supersymmetric (SUSY) Grand Unified Theories (GUTs). For definiteness we consider SUSY hybrid inflation where we show that the scalar components of gauge non-singlet superfields, together with fields in conjugate representations, may form a D-flat direction suitable for inflation. We apply these ideas to SUSY models with an Abelian gauge group, a Pati-Salam gauge group and finally Grand Unified Theories based on SO(10) where the scalar components of the matter superfields in the $\sixteen$s may combine with a single $\bar {sixteen}$ to form the inflaton, with the right-handed sneutrino direction providing a possible viable trajectory for inflation. Assuming sneutrino inflation, we calculate the one-loop Coleman-Weinberg corrections and the two-loop corrections from gauge interactions giving rise to the "gauge \eta-problem" and show that both corrections do not spoil inflation, and the monopole problem can be resolved. The usual \eta-problem arising from supergravity may also be resolved using a Heisenberg symmetry., Comment: 41 pages, 6 figures; minor changes; version published in JHEP

We present the evolution of the full set of Einstein equations during preheating after inflation. We study a generic supersymmetric model of hybrid inflation, integrating fields and metric fluctuations in a 3-dimensional lattice. We take initial conditions consistent with Eintein's constraint equations. The induced preheating of the metric fluctuations is not large enough to backreact onto the fields, but preheating of the scalar modes does affect the evolution of vector and tensor modes. In particular, they do enhance the induced stochastic background of gravitational waves during preheating, giving an energy density in general an order of magnitude larger than that obtained by evolving the tensors fluctuations in an homogeneous background metric. This enhancement can improve the expectations for detection by planned gravitational waves observatories., 5 pages, 4 eps figures, matches Phys. Rev. Lett. version

A model is presented in which a single scalar field is responsible for both primordial inflation at early times and then dark energy at late times. This field is coupled to a second scalar field which becomes unstable and starts to oscillate after primordial inflation, thus driving a reheating phase that can create a high post-inflation temperature. This model easily avoids overproduction of gravity waves, which is a problem in the original quintessential inflation model in which reheating occurs via gravitational particle production., Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures

We review the main aspects of the warm inflation scenario, focusing on the inflationary dynamics and the predictions related to the primordial spectrum of perturbations, to be compared with the recent cosmological observations. We study in detail three different classes of inflationary models, chaotic, hybrid models and hilltop models, and discuss their embedding into supersymmetric models and the consequences for model building of the warm inflationary dynamics based on first principles calculations. Due to the extra friction term introduced in the inflaton background evolution generated by the dissipative dynamics, inflation can take place generically for smaller values of the field, and larger values of couplings and masses. When the dissipative dynamics dominates over the expansion, in the so-called strong dissipative regime, inflation proceeds with sub-planckian inflaton values. Models can be naturally embedded into a supergravity framework, with sugra corrections suppressed by the Planck mass now under control, for a larger class of K\"ahler potentials. In particular, this provides a simpler solution to the "eta" problem in supersymmetric hybrid inflation, without restricting the K\"ahler potentials compatible with inflation. For chaotic models dissipation leads to a smaller prediction for the tensor-to-scalar ratio and a less tilted spectrum when compared to the cold inflation scenario. We find in particular that a small component of dissipation renders the quartic model now consistent with the current CMB data., Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures

We study the low-temperature limit of warm inflation in a hilltop model. This limit remains valid up to the end of inflation, allowing an analytic description of the entire inflationary stage. In the weak dissipative regime, if the kinetic density of the inflaton dominates after inflation, low scale inflation is attained with Hubble scale as low as 1 GeV. In the strong dissipative regime, the model satisfies the observational requirements for the spectral index with a mild tuning of the model parameters, while also overcoming the $\eta$-problem of inflation. However, there is some danger of gravitino overproduction unless the particle content of the theory is large., Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures

We have studied preheating of field perturbations in a 3-dimensional lattice including the effect of scalar metric perturbations, in two generic models of inflation: chaotic inflation with a quartic potential, and standard hybrid inflation. We have prepared the initial state for the classical evolution of the system with vanishing vector and tensor metric perturbations, consistent with the constraint equations, the energy and momentum constraints. The non-linear evolution inevitably generates vector and tensor modes, and this reflects on how well the constraint equations are fulfilled during the evolution. The induced preheating of the scalar metric perturbations is not large enough to backreact onto the fields, but it could affect the evolution of vector and tensor modes. This is the case in hybrid inflation for some values of the coupling $g$ and the height of potential $V_0^{1/4}$. For example with $V_0^{1/4} \simeq 10^{15}$ GeV, preheating of scalar perturbations is such that their source term in the evolution equation of tensor and vector becomes comparable to that of the field anisotropic stress., 15 pages, 12 eps figures

Warm inflation scenarios are studied with the dissipative coefficient computed in the equilibrium approximation. Use is made of the analytical expressions available in the low temperature regime with focus on the possibility of achieving strong dissipation within this approximation. Two different types of models are examined: monomial or equivalently chaotic type potentials, and hybrid like models where the energy density during inflation is dominated by the false vacuum. In both cases dissipation is shown to typically increase during inflation and bring the system into the strong dissipative regime. Observational consequences are explored for the amplitude of the primordial spectrum and the spectral index, which translate into constraints on the number of fields mediating the dissipative mechanism, and the number of light degrees of freedom produced during inflation. This paper furthers the foundational development of warm inflation dynamics from first principles quantum field theory by calculating conservative lower bound estimates on dissipative effects during inflation using the well established thermal equilibrium approximation. This approximation does not completely represent the actual physical system and earlier work has shown relaxing both the equilibrium and low temperature constraints can substantially enlarge the warm inflation regime, but these improvements still need further theoretical development., Comment: 13 pages, 2 eps figures

The model of RH neutrino fields coupled to the MSSM is shown to yield a large parameter regime of warm inflation. In the strong dissipative regime, it is shown that inflation, driven by a single sneutrino field, occurs with {\it all field amplitudes below the Planck scale}. Analysis is also made of leptogenesis, neutrino mass generation and gravitino constraints. A new warm inflation scenario is purposed in which one scalar field drives a period of warm inflation and a second field drives a subsequent phase of reheating. Such a model is able to reduce the final temperature after inflation, thus helping to mitigate gravitino constraints., Comment: 10 pages, 1 eps figure, revtex4

We propose a hybrid inflation scenario in which the singlet sneutrino, the superpartner of the right-handed neutrino, plays the role of the inflaton. We study a minimal model of sneutrino hybrid inflation in supergravity, where we find a spectral index $n_s \approx 1 + 2 \gamma$ with $|\gamma| \lesssim 0.02$, and predict a running spectral index $|d n_s/d\ln k| \ll |\gamma|$ and a tensor-to-scalar ratio $r \ll \gamma^2$ for field values well below the Planck scale. In our scenario, the baryon asymmetry of our universe can be explained via non-thermal leptogenesis and a low reheat temperature $T_{RH} \approx 10^{6}$ GeV can be realized., Comment: 4 pages; minor corrections; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

The SUSY hybrid inflation model is found to dissipate radiation during the inflationary period. Analysis is made of parameter regimes in which these dissipative effects are significant. The scalar spectral index, its running, and the tensor-scalar ratio are computed in the entire parameter range of the model. A clear prediction for strong dissipative warm inflation is found for n{sub S}-1{approx_equal}0.98 and a low tensor-scalar ratio much below 10{sup -6}. The strong dissipative warm inflation regime also is found to have no {eta} problem and the field amplitude much below the Planck scale. As will be discussed, this has important theoretical implications in permitting a much wider variety of SUGRA extensions to the basic model.

We propose a model of cosmology and particle physics in which all relevant scales arise in a natural way from an intermediate string scale. We are led to assign the string scale to the intermediate scale M_* \sim 10^{13} GeV by four independent pieces of physics: electroweak symmetry breaking; the \mu parameter; the axion scale; and the neutrino mass scale. The model involves hybrid inflation with the waterfall field N being responsible for generating the \mu term, the right-handed neutrino mass scale, and the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scale. The large scale structure of the Universe is generated by the lightest right-handed sneutrino playing the role of a coupled curvaton. We show that the correct curvature perturbations may be successfully generated providing the lightest right-handed neutrino is weakly coupled in the see-saw mechanism, consistent with sequential dominance., Comment: 23 pages, 2 figures, uses axodraw.sty

We discuss the potentially important role played by preheating in certain variants of the curvaton mechanism in which isocurvature perturbations of a D-flat (and F-flat) direction become converted to curvature perturbations during reheating. We analyse the transition from inflation to reheating in some detail, including the dynamics of the coupled curvaton and inflation fields during this transition. We discover that preheating could be an important source of adiabaticity where parametric resonance of the isocurvature components amplifies the super-horizon fluctuations by a significant amount. As an example of these effects we develop a particle physics motivated model which we recently introduced in which the D-flat direction is identified with the usual Higgs field. Our new results show that it is possible to achieve the correct curvature perturbations for initial values of the curvaton fields of order the weak scale. In this model we show that the prediction for the spectral index of the final curvature perturbation only depends on the mass of the curvaton during inflation, where consistency with current observational data requires the ratio of this mass to the Hubble constant to be < 0.3., 32 pages, 8 figures

Observational evidence suggests that our universe is presently dominated by a dark energy component and undergoing accelerated expansion. We recently introduced a model, motivated by string theory for short-distance physics, for explaining dark energy without appealing to any fine-tuning. The idea of the transplanckian dark energy (TDE) was based on the freeze-out mechanism of the ultralow frequency modes, $\omega(k)$ of very short distances, by the expansion of the background universe, $\omega(k) \leq H$. In this paper we address the issue of the stress-energy tensor for the nonlinear short-distance physics and explain the need to modify Einstein equations in this regime. From the modified Einstein equations we then derive the equation of state for the TDE model, which has the distinctive feature of being continually time-dependent. The explanation of the coincidence puzzle relies entirely on the intrinsic time-evolution of the TDE equation of state., Comment: 19 pages, 1 eps figures

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe microwave background data may be giving us clues about new physics at the transition from a ``stringy'' epoch of the universe to the standard Friedmann Robertson Walker description. Deviations on large angular scales of the data, as compared to theoretical expectations, as well as running of the spectral index of density perturbations, can be explained by new physics whose scale is set by the height of an inflationary potential. As examples of possible signatures for this new physics, we study the cosmic microwave background spectrum for two string inspired models: 1) modifications to the Friedmann equations and 2) velocity dependent potentials. The suppression of low ``l'' modes in the microwave background data arises due to the new physics. In addition, the spectral index is red (n1) on large scales, in agreement with data., 18 pages, 2 figures, submitted for publication in Physical Review D, references added in this version

We discuss a class of phantom ($p < - \varrho$) cosmological models. Except for phantom we admit various forms of standard types of matter and discuss the problem of singularities for these cosmologies. The singularities are different from those of standard matter cosmology since they appear for infinite values of the scale factor. We also find an interesting relation between the phantom models and standard matter models which is like the duality symmetry of string cosmology., 10 pages, Revtex4, 10 figures, an improved version. references added

The problem of dark energy arises due to its self-gravitating properties. Therefore explaining vacuum energy may become a question for the realm of quantum gravity, that can be addressed within string theory context. In this talk I concentrate on a recent, string-inspired model, that relies on nonlinear physics of short-distance perturbation modes, for explaining dark energy without any fine-tuning. Dark energy can be observationally probed by its equation of state, w. Different models predict different types of equations of state and string-inspired ones have a time dependent w(z) as their unique signature. Exploring the link between dark energy and string theory may provide indirect evidence for the latter, by means of precision cosmology data., 11 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the conference Sakharov3, Moscow, Jun 2002

We present a new scenario for baryogenesis in the context of heterotic brane-world models. The baryon asymmetry of the universe is generated at a small-instanton phase transition which is initiated by a moving brane colliding with the observable boundary. We demonstrate, in the context of a simple model, that reasonable values for the baryon asymmetry can be obtained. As a byproduct we find a new class of moving-brane cosmological solutions in the presence of a perfect fluid., 20 pages, Latex, 2 eps-figures