Inflationary cosmology: First 30+ years

Abstract

Starting with an account of historical developments in Japan and Russia, we review inflationary cosmology and its basic predictions in a pedagogical manner. We also introduce the generalized G-inflation model, in terms of which all the known single-field inflation model s may be described. This formalism allows us to analyze and compare the many inflationary models that have been proposed simultaneously and within a common framework. Finally, current observational constraints on inflation are reviewed, Int. J. Mod. Phys. D Downloaded from www.worldscientific.com by CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY on 08/11/15. For personal use only. K. Sato and J. Yokoyamawith particular emphasis on the sensitivity of the inferred constraints to the choice of datasets used.

Dark matter and baryon-number generation in quintessential inflation via hierarchical right-handed neutrinos

“…This term gives an effective mass 12H 2 inf /µ during inflation, which quickly vanishes after inflation. Incorporating this coupling in (1) and repeating the same numerical calculation, we find that the number density is given as n ≃ 1.1 × 10 −1 H 5 inf /µ 2 at the end of inflation for ∆t ≈ H −1 inf . Assuming that the universe evolves adiabatically after reheating with temperature (14), we find that the right abundance of dark matter is realized if we take µ ≈ 3×10 14 GeV×e…”

Possible resolution of the domain wall problem in the NMSSM

“…In this paper, we shall argue that the resolution of this problem is also achieved within the inflationary paradigm (For a recent review of inflation, see, e.g., [31].) The key ingredient is an effective mass of the form −cH 2 for the S field, where H is the Hubble parameter at a given time.…”

Gravitational production of super-Hubble-mass particles: an analytic approach

“…At the end of a quasi-de Sitter phase of inflation [1][2][3][4] there is a transition period, often referred to as reheating (see e.g., Refs. [5][6][7][8][9] for a review), that eventually leads to a universe dominated by relativistic particle degrees of freedom and the commencement of the radiation-dominated phase. In the context of slow-roll inflation this reheating occurs during coherent oscillations of a scalar field.…”