Affine Inflation

Abstract

Affine gravity, a gravity theory based on affine connection with no notion of metric, supports scalar field dynamics only if scalar fields have non-vanishing potential. The non-vanishing vacuum energy ensures that the cosmological constant is non-vanishing. It also ensures that the energy-momentum tensor of vacuum gives the dynamically generated metric tensor. We construct this affine setup and study primordial inflation in it. We study inflationary dynamics in affine gravity and general relativity, comparatively. We show that non-minimally coupled inflaton dynamics can be transformed into a minimally-coupled one with a modified potential. We also show that there is one unique frame in affine gravity, as opposed to the Einstein and Jordan frames in general relativity. Future observations with higher accuracy may be able to test the affine gravity.

10 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables. With the correct journal reference

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Cited by in corpus (35)

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• Minimal Higgs inflation with an $R^2$ term in Palatini gravity
• Black Hole Shadow in Symmergent Gravity
• Tracing the high energy theory of gravity: an introduction to Palatini inflation
• Trans-Planckian Censorship, Inflation and Dark Matter
• Dimensional Transmutation in Gravity and Cosmology
• Higgs inflation in Einstein-Cartan gravity
• Coupling Metric-Affine Gravity to a Higgs-Like Scalar Field
• Axion dark matter from Higgs inflation with an intermediate $H_{\ast }$
• Towards distinguishing variants of non-minimal inflation
• Falsifying cosmological models based on a non-linear electrodynamics
• Constant-roll in the Palatini-$R^2$ models
• Initial conditions for plateau inflation: a case study
• Minimal $k$-inflation in light of the conformal metric-affine geometry
• Induced Affine Inflation
• Preheating in Einstein-Cartan Higgs Inflation: Oscillon formation
• Preheating in Palatini Higgs inflation on the lattice
• Emergent Gravity as the Eraser of Anomalous Gauge Boson Masses, and QFT-GR Concord
• Are there really conformal frames? Uniqueness of affine inflation
• Linear Transformations on Affine-Connections
• Scattering amplitudes in affine gravity
• Non-minimally coupled Natural Inflation: Palatini and Metric formalism with the recent BICEP/Keck
• Cosmology with variable $G$ and nonlinear electrodynamics
• Entropy Production in Affine Inflation
• Inducing Gravity From Connections and Scalar Fields
• Affine gravitational scenario for dark matter decay
• Matter-antimatter asymmetry induced by non-linear electrodynamics
• Eddington gravity with matter: An emergent perspective
• Scalar-Connection Gravity and Spontaneous Scalarization
• Isocurvature modes and non-Gaussianity in affine inflation
• Ricci-Determinant Gravity: Dynamical Aspects and Astrophysical Implications
• A polynomial affine model of gravity: after ten years
• Dynamical aspects of asymmetric Eddington gravity with scalar fields
• Does the metric play a fundamental role in the building of gravitational models?
• Higgs-Dilaton Inflation in Einstein-Cartan gravity