Assessing the scientific status of inflation after Planck

Initial conditions for plateau inflation: a case study

“…Like Ref [15],. by "fine-tuned" initial conditions we mean a set of initial conditions that occupies only a small fraction of the inflaton phase-space.…”

“…by "fine-tuned" initial conditions we mean a set of initial conditions that occupies only a small fraction of the inflaton phase-space. For discussion on the choice of a phase-space measure, see Section VII of Ref [15]…”

Rare-event properties of the Nagel-Schreckenberg model

“…The aim of this approach is to obtain fit parameters m r (ρ) and m l (ρ) for different densities ρ and investigate thereby whether and how the transition from low (free flow) to high density (congested) regime affects the shape of the large-deviation tails. While the behavior in the typical regime is already well known by previous investigations of the fundamental diagram [3], the impact of the transition on the entire distribution of the traffic flow q has (to the authors' knowledge) not been explored yet at all. Thus, to also investigate the atypical regime, the large-deviation tails are of particular interest.…”

“…It is a very simple yet fundamental model not only for traffic but also for general transport phenomena and the occurrence of slow (glassy) dynamics [2]. This model has started in the statistical physics community a very active field of research on traffic [3,4]. To mimic human behavior in the model, which leads to fluctuations and in turn to the occurrence of spontaneous traffic jams, a stochastic component responsible for random speed reduction was introduced.…”

“…The model undergoes a change of the behavior from free flow to congested traffic when the density of cars increases [1], reminding of a phase transition. In the past years, a lot of research concerning this model was on the question, whether this transition is an example for a real non-equilibrium phase transition [3,[5][6][7].…”