Chain inflation reconsidered
- Physics Department, McGill University, Montreal, H3A2T8 (Canada)
We investigate density perturbations in the chain inflation scenario, where the inflaton undergoes successive tunneling transitions along one field direction. First we show that when the bubble walls associated with such a phase transition meet, they induce the next phase transition and continue to propagate as phase interfaces. Then we present an analytical calculation of the density fluctuations and an estimate of non-Gaussianities such as f{sub NL}, which we find to be small (of order 1). To get the right amplitude for the power spectrum, there have to be 10{sup 8} phase transitions per Hubble time, a significant model building challenge. We find that working models of chain inflation must be rather strongly coupled, and thus have a very limited range of validity as effective field theories. We discuss generalizations to the multiple field case, the curvaton scenario, and noncanonical kinetic terms.
- OSTI ID:
- 22277817
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2011, Issue 08; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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