Development of generic no-scale inflation

Abstract

We develop generalized no-scale supergravity models of inflation, and then study the corresponding cosmological predictions as well as the formation of primordial black holes (PBHs) and scalar-induced gravitational waves (SIGWs). With a new parameter $0<a\le 1$, the generalized no-scale supergravity provides the continuous connections among the generic no-scale supergravity from string theory compactifications. The resulting prediction of the CMB, spectrum index $n_s$, and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ can be highly consistent with the latest Planck/BICEP/Keck Array observations. Notably, the models with $a\ne 1$ give a smaller ratio $r\le 10^{-3}$, which is flexible even under the anticipated tighter observational constraints at the future experiments. Additionally, these models have the potential to generate a broad-band stochastic gravitational wave background, and thus explain the NANOGrav 15yr signal. Furthermore, they predict the formation of PBHs with various mass scales, which could account for a significant portion of dark matter relic density in the Universe.

19 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables. This version matches the published version in JCAP