On the Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture and the generalized non-minimal coupling

Abstract

We investigate the Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture (TCC) and the arising bounds on the inflationary cosmology caused by that conjecture. In that investigation, we analyze TCC bounds for both Jordan and Einstein frames in the presence of a generic non-minimal coupling (to gravity) term. That term allows us to use the functional freedom it brings to the inflationary Lagrangian as an effective Planck mass. In this sense, we argue one should consider the initial field value of the effective Planck mass for the TCC. We show that as a result, one can remove the TCC upper bounds without the need to produce a new process or go beyond the standard inflation mechanism, with the generalized non-minimal coupling, and for Higgs-like symmetry-breaking potentials.

Lorentz violating inflation and the Swampland

“…Single field GR based inflationary models can only be compatible with the TCC if they are extremely fine tuned [44], which is ironic given that inflation was invented to solve the fine tuning problem of traditional big bang cosmology. Much further work has been done to clarify the TCC's problems with single field inflation, with the overall picture appearing to be that the TCC is more comfortable with non-standard inflationary regimes than usual single field models [45][46][47][48][49][50][51]. What one can hence understand from the current literature on the swampland and inflation is that one is not well placed to expect conventional(cold) single field models to be on amicable terms with these conjectures.…”