Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Inflatable”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 703 records · Page 39
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2010

Folded resonant non-Gaussianity in general single field inflation

We compute a novel type of large non-Gaussianity due to small periodic features in general single field inflationary models. We show that the non-Bunch-Davies vacuum component generated by features, although has a very small amplitude, can have significant impact on the non-Gaussianity. Three mechanisms are turned on simultaneously in such models, namely the resonant effect, non-Bunch-Davies vacuum and higher derivative kinetic terms, resulting in a bispectrum with distinctive shapes and running. The size can be equal to or larger than that previously found in each single mechanism. Our full results, including the resonant and folded resonant non-Gaussianities, give the leading order bispectra due to general periodic features in general single field inflation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Anisotropic power-law inflation

We study an inflationary scenario in supergravity model with a gauge kinetic function. We find exact anisotropic power-law inflationary solutions when both the potential function for an inflaton and the gauge kinetic function are exponential type. The dynamical system analysis tells us that the anisotropic power-law inflation is an attractor for a large parameter region.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Tilt and running of cosmological observables in generalized single-field inflation

Employing an effective field theory approach to inflationary perturbations, we analyze in detail the effect of curvature-generated Lagrangian operators on various observables, focusing on their running with scales. At quadratic order, we solve the equation of motion at next-to-leading leading order in a generalized slow-roll approximation for a very general theory of single-field inflation. We derive the resulting power spectrum, its tilt and running. We then focus on the contribution to the primordial non-Gaussianity amplitude f{sub NL} sourced by a specific interaction term. We show that the running of f{sub NL} can be substantially larger than what dictated by the slow-roll parameters.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Galilean symmetry in the effective theory of inflation: new shapes of non-Gaussianity

We study the consequences of imposing an approximate Galilean symmetry on the Effective Theory of Inflation, the theory of small perturbations around the inflationary background. This approach allows us to study the effect of operators with two derivatives on each field, which can be the leading interactions due to non-renormalization properties of the Galilean Lagrangian. In this case cubic non-Gaussianities are given by three independent operators, containing up to six derivatives, two with a shape close to equilateral and one peaking on flattened isosceles triangles. The four-point function is larger than in models with small speed of sound and potentially observable with the Planck satellite.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Mutated hybrid inflation in f(R,□R)-gravity

A new hybrid inflationary scenario in the context of f(R,□R)-gravity is proposed. Demanding the waterfall field to 'support the potential from below' [unlike the original proposal by Stewart in Phys. Lett. B 345, 414 (1995)], we demonstrate that the scalar potential is similar to that of the large-field chaotic inflation model proposed by Linde in Phys. Lett. B 129, 177 (1983). Inflationary observables are used to constrain the parameter space of our model; in the process, an interesting limit on the number of e-folds N is found.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

A minimal inflation scenario

We elaborate on a minimal inflation scenario based entirely on the general properties of supersymmetry breaking in supergravity models. We identify the inflaton as the scalar component of the Goldstino superfield. We write plausible candidates for the effective action describing this chiral superfield. In particular the theory depends (apart from parameters of O(1)) on a single free parameter: the scale of supersymmetry breaking. This can be fixed using the amplitude of CMB cosmological perturbations and we therefore obtain the scale of supersymmetry breaking to be 10{sup 12−14} GeV. The model also incorporates explicit R-symmetry breaking in order to satisfy the slow roll conditions. In our model the η−problem is solved without extra fine-tuning. We try to obtain as much information as possible in a model independent way using general symmetry properties of the theory's effective action, this leads to a new proposal on how to exit the inflationary phase and reheat the Universe.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Waterfall field in hybrid inflation and curvature perturbation

We study carefully the contribution of the waterfall field to the curvature perturbation at the end of hybrid inflation. In particular we clarify the parameter dependence analytically under reasonable assumptions on the model parameters. After calculating the mode function of the waterfall field, we use the δN formalism and confirm the previously obtained result that the power spectrum is very blue with the index 4 and is absolutely negligible on large scales. However, we also find that the resulting curvature perturbation is highly non-Gaussian and hence we calculate the bispectrum. We find that the bispectrum is at leading order independent of momentum and exhibits its peak at the equilateral limit, though it is unobservably small on large scales. We also present the one-point probability distribution function of the curvature perturbation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Inflation with a Weyl term, or ghosts at work

In order to assess the role of ghosts in cosmology, we study the evolution of linear cosmological perturbations during inflation when a Weyl term is added to the action. Our main results are that vector perturbations can no longer be ignored and that scalar modes diverge in the newtonian gauge but remain bounded in the comoving slicing.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Running-mass inflation model and primordial black holes

We revisit the question whether the running-mass inflation model allows the formation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) that are sufficiently long-lived to serve as candidates for Dark Matter. We incorporate recent cosmological data, including the WMAP 7-year results. Moreover, we include ''the running of the running'' of the spectral index of the power spectrum, as well as the renormalization group ''running of the running'' of the inflaton mass term. Our analysis indicates that formation of sufficiently heavy, and hence long-lived, PBHs still remains possible in this scenario. As a by-product, we show that the additional term in the inflaton potential still does not allow significant negative running of the spectral index.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Inflation driven by scalar field with non-minimal kinetic coupling with Higgs and quadratic potentials

We study a scalar field with non-minimal kinetic coupling to itself and to the curvature. The slow rolling conditions allowing an inflationary background have been found. The quadratic and Higgs type potentials have been considered, and the corresponding values for the scalar fields at the end of inflation allows to recover the connection with particle physics.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Bispectra from two-field inflation using the long-wavelength formalism

We use the long-wavelength formalism to compute the bispectral non-Gaussianity produced in two-field inflation. We find an exact result that is used as the basis of numerical studies, and an explicit analytical slow-roll expression for several classes of potentials that gives insight into the origin and importance of the various contributions to f{sub NL}. We also discuss the momentum dependence of f{sub NL}. Based on these results we find a simple model that produces a relatively large non-Gaussianity. We show that the long-wavelength formalism is a viable alternative to the standard δN formalism, and can be preferable to it in certain situations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Anisotropic inflation with non-abelian gauge kinetic function

We study an anisotropic inflation model with a gauge kinetic function for a non-abelian gauge field. We find that, in contrast to abelian models, the anisotropy can be either a prolate or an oblate type, which could lead to a different prediction from abelian models for the statistical anisotropy in the power spectrum of cosmological fluctuations. During a reheating phase, we find chaotic behaviour of the non-abelian gauge field which is caused by the nonlinear self-coupling of the gauge field. We compute a Lyapunov exponent of the chaos which turns out to be uncorrelated with the anisotropy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Axions, inflation and the anthropic principle

The QCD axion is the leading solution to the strong-CP problem, a dark matter candidate, and a possible result of string theory compactifications. However, for axions produced before inflation, symmetry-breaking scales of f{sub a}∼>10{sup 12} GeV (which are favored in string-theoretic axion models) are ruled out by cosmological constraints unless both the axion misalignment angle θ{sub 0} and the inflationary Hubble scale H{sub I} are extremely fine-tuned. We show that attempting to accommodate a high-f{sub a} axion in inflationary cosmology leads to a fine-tuning problem that is worse than the strong-CP problem the axion was originally invented to solve. We also show that this problem remains unresolved by anthropic selection arguments commonly applied to the high-f{sub a} axion scenario.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Shear viscous effects on the primordial power spectrum from warm inflation

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 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. 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 ζ{sub s} is larger than 3ρ{sub r}/H at horizon crossing, ρ{sub r} being the radiation energy density, the shear damping effect wins and there is no growing mode in the spectrum.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Large slow-roll corrections to the bispectrum of noncanonical inflation

Nongaussian statistics are a powerful discriminant between inflationary models, particularly those with noncanonical kinetic terms. Focusing on theories where the Lagrangian is an arbitrary Lorentz-invariant function of a scalar field and its first derivatives, we review and extend the calculation of the observable three-point function. We compute the ''next-order'' slow-roll corrections to the bispectrum in closed form, and obtain quantitative estimates of their magnitude in DBI and power-law k-inflation. In the DBI case our results enable us to estimate corrections from the shape of the potential and the warp factor: these can be of order several tens of percent. We track the possible sources of large logarithms which can spoil ordinary perturbation theory, and use them to obtain a general formula for the scale dependence of the bispectrum. Our result satisfies the next-order version of Maldacena's consistency condition and an equivalent consistency condition for the scale dependence. We identify a new bispectrum shape available at next-order, which is similar to a shape encountered in Galileon models. If f{sub NL} is sufficiently large this shape may be independently detectable.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Non-gaussianity in the strong regime of warm inflation

The bispectrum of scalar mode density perturbations is analysed for the strong regime of warm inflationary models. This analysis generalises previous results by allowing damping terms in the inflaton equation of motion that are dependent on temperature. A significant amount of non-gaussianity emerges with constant (or local) non-linearity parameter f{sub NL} ∼ 20, in addition to the terms with non-constant f{sub NL} which are characteristic of warm inflation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Chaotic inflation in modified gravitational theories

We study chaotic inflation in the context of modified gravitational theories. Our analysis covers models based on (i) a field coupling ω(φ) with the kinetic energy X = −(1/2)g{sup μν}∂{sub μ}φ∂{sub ν}φ and a nonmimimal coupling ζφ{sup 2}R/2 with a Ricci scalar R, (ii) Brans-Dicke (BD) theories, (iii) Gauss-Bonnet (GB) gravity, and (iv) gravity with a Galileon correction. Dilatonic coupling with the kinetic energy and/or negative nonminimal coupling are shown to lead to compatibility with observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropies for the self-coupling inflaton potential V(φ) = λφ{sup 4}/4. BD theory with a quadratic inflaton potential, which covers Starobinsky's f(R) model f(R) = R+R{sup 2}/(6M{sup 2}) with the BD parameter ω{sub BD} = 0, gives rise to a smaller tensor-to-scalar ratio for decreasing ω{sub BD}. In the presence of a GB term coupled to the field φ, we express the scalar/tensor spectral indices n{sub s} and n{sub t} as well as the tensor-to-scalar ratio r in terms of two slow-roll parameters and place bounds on the strength of the GB coupling from the joint data analysis of WMAP 7yr combined with other observations. We also study the Galileon-like self-interaction Φ(φ)X□φ with exponential coupling Φ(φ)∝e{sup μφ}. Using a CMB likelihood analysis we put bounds on the strength of the Galileon coupling and show that the self coupling potential can in fact be made compatible with observations in the presence of the exponential coupling with μ > 0.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Constraining holographic inflation with WMAP

In a class of recently proposed models, the early universe is strongly coupled and described holographically by a three-dimensional, weakly coupled, super-renormalizable quantum field theory. This scenario leads to a power spectrum of scalar perturbations that differs from the usual empirical ΛCDM form and the predictions of generic models of single field, slow roll inflation. This spectrum is characterized by two parameters: an amplitude, and a parameter g related to the coupling constant of the dual theory. We estimate these parameters, using WMAP and other astrophysical data. We compute Bayesian evidence for both the holographic model and standard ΛCDM and find that their difference is not significant, although ΛCDM provides a somewhat better fit to the data. However, it appears that Planck will permit a definitive test of this holographic scenario.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗