Generic slow-roll and non-gaussianity parameters in $f(R)$ theories

Abstract

In this paper we establish \textit{formulae} for the inflationary slow-roll parameters $\epsilon$, $\eta$ and $\zeta$ as functions of the Ricci scalar $R$ for $f(R)$ theories of gravity. As examples, we present the analytic and numerical solutions of $\epsilon$, $\eta$ and $\zeta$ as functions of the number of e-folds $N$ in two important instances: for the Starobinsky model and for a $f(R)$ reconstruction of the $\alpha$-Attractors. The highlight of our proposal is to rewrite the slow-roll parameters in terms of $f(R)$, which allows to find directly $n_{\mathrm{s}}$, $r$, ${\alpha }_{\mathrm{s}}$ and $f_{\text{NL}}^{\text{equil}}$ as functions of $R$ itself. We obtain that both models indicate a small contribution to the non-Gaussianity parameters, which are in good agreement with current observational constraints.

4 figures. Accepted for publication in JCAP