Note on initial conditions for small-field inflation
Abstract
We show that initial conditions for small-field inflation can be determined quantum mechanically by introducing a suitable flattened region in the scalar potential. The inflaton is then driven toward the slow-roll attractor solution exponentially fast, desensitizing inflation from the initial velocity and partially evading the so-called overshoot problem. We give an explicit example in the context of hilltop inflation by introducing an ultra-slow-roll plateau around the maximum of the potential and analyze its effect on the phase-space trajectories.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review D
- Pub Date:
- November 2020
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevD.102.103510
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2008.02494
- Bibcode:
- 2020PhRvD.102j3510A
- Keywords:
-
- High Energy Physics - Theory;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
- E-Print:
- 20 pages, 5 figures, v2: comments and references added, typos corrected, published version