A case for kinetically dominated initial conditions for inflation

Abstract

We make a case for setting initial conditions for inflation at the Planck epoch in the kinetically dominated regime. For inflationary potentials with a plateau or a hill, i.e. potentials that are bounded from above within a certain region of interest, we cannot claim complete ignorance of the energy distribution between kinetic and potential energy, and equipartition of energy at the Planck epoch becomes questionable. We analyse different classes of potentials in phase-space and quantify the fraction of the Planck surface that is kinetically dominated. For the small amplitudes of the potentials as suggested by current data, the Planck surface lies in the region of kinetic dominance for almost all values of interest of the inflaton field.

arXiv commentSubmitted to PRL, 6 pages, 4 figures

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