Symmetron Inflation

Abstract

We define a new inflationary scenario in which inflation starts naturally after the Big Bang when the energy density drops below some critical value. As a model, we use recently proposed symmetron field whose effective potential depends on the energy density of the environment. At high densities, right after the Big Bang, the potential for the symmetron is trivial, and the field sits in equilibrium at the bottom of the potential. When the density drops below some critical value, the potential changes its shape into a symmetry breaking potential, and the field starts rolling down. This scenario does not require any special initial conditions for inflation to start. We also construct a concrete model with two fields, i.e. with symmetron as an inflaton and an additional scalar field which describes the matter content in the early universe. For the simplest coupling, the amplitude and shape of the power spectrum are the same as in the single field slow-roll inflation.

Published in JCAP 01(2014)021

References in corpus (2)

• Systematic simulations of modified gravity: symmetron and dilaton models
• Symmetron dark energy in laboratory experiments

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Beyond the Cosmological Standard Model
• Symmetron Scalar Fields: Modified Gravity, Dark Matter or Both?
• Post-Newtonian parameters and cosmological constant of screened modified gravity
• Exact Solutions to Non-Linear Symmetron Theory: One and Two Mirror Systems
• Lensing with generalized symmetrons
• The role of fluctuation-dissipation dynamics in setting initial conditions for inflation
• Exact Solutions to Non-Linear Symmetron Theory II: One and Two Mirror Systems
• Symmetry breaking and the onset of cosmic acceleration in scalar field models
• Non-canonical inflation coupled to matter
• Conformal Inflation Coupled to Matter
• Environment Dependent Electron Mass and the H${}_0$-Tension
• Hilltop inflation with preinflation from coupling to matter fields
• Conformal inflation with chameleon coupling
• Obtaining a scalar fifth force via a broken-symmetry couple between the scalar field and matter
• Phenomenological footprints of Lambda varying gravity theories inspired from quantum gravity models in the multi-messenger era
• Quantum corrections to symmetron fifth-force profiles