TwInflation
- Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
The general structure of Hybrid Inflation remains a very well-motivated mechanism for lower-scale cosmic inflation in the face of improving constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. However, as originally modeled, the “waterfall” field in this mechanism gives rise to a hierarchy problem (η–problem) for the inflaton after demanding standard effective field theory (EFT) control. We modify the hybrid mechanism and incorporate a discrete “twin” symmetry, thereby yielding a viable, natural and EFT-controlled model of non-supersymmetric low-scale inflation, “Twinflation”. Analogously to Twin Higgs models, the discrete exchange-symmetry with a “twin” sector reduces quadratic sensitivity in the inflationary potential to ultra-violet physics, at the root of the hierarchy problem. The observed phase of inflation takes place on a hilltop-like potential but without fine-tuning of the initial inflaton position in field-space. We also show that all parameters of the model can take natural values, below any associated EFT-cutoff mass scales and field values, thus ensuring straightforward theoretical control. We discuss the basic phenomenological considerations and constraints, as well as possible future directions.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1820332
- Journal Information:
- Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online) Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 2021; ISSN 1029-8479
- Publisher:
- Springer NatureCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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