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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Chaotic initial conditions for nonminimally coupled inflation via a conformal factor with a zero
AU - Kim, Jinsu
AU - McDonald, John
PY - 2017/5/15
Y1 - 2017/5/15
N2 - Nonminimally coupled inflation models based on a nonminimal coupling xi phi R-2 and a phi(4) potential are in excellent agreement with the scalar spectral index observed by Planck. Here we consider the modification of these models by a conformal factor with a zero. This enables a nonminimally coupled model to have a Planck-scale potential energy density at large values of the inflaton field, which can account for the smooth, potential-dominated volume that is necessary for inflation to start. We show that models with a conformal factor zero generally predict a correlated increase of the spectral index n(s) and tensor-to-scalar ratio r. For values of n(s) that are within the present 2 - sigma bounds from Planck, modification by Delta r as large as 0.0013 is possible, which is large enough to be measured by next generation cosmic microwave background polarization satellites.
AB - Nonminimally coupled inflation models based on a nonminimal coupling xi phi R-2 and a phi(4) potential are in excellent agreement with the scalar spectral index observed by Planck. Here we consider the modification of these models by a conformal factor with a zero. This enables a nonminimally coupled model to have a Planck-scale potential energy density at large values of the inflaton field, which can account for the smooth, potential-dominated volume that is necessary for inflation to start. We show that models with a conformal factor zero generally predict a correlated increase of the spectral index n(s) and tensor-to-scalar ratio r. For values of n(s) that are within the present 2 - sigma bounds from Planck, modification by Delta r as large as 0.0013 is possible, which is large enough to be measured by next generation cosmic microwave background polarization satellites.
U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.103501
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.103501
M3 - Journal article
VL - 95
JO - Physical Review D
JF - Physical Review D
SN - 2470-0010
IS - 10
M1 - 103501
ER -