Frame-Independent Classification of Single-Field Inflationary Models

Laur Järv, Kristjan Kannike, Luca Marzola, Antonio Racioppi, Martti Raidal, Mihkel Rünkla, Margus Saal, and Hardi Veermäe
Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 151302 – Published 13 April 2017

Abstract

Seemingly unrelated models of inflation that originate from different physical setups yield, in some cases, identical predictions for the currently constrained inflationary observables. In order to classify the available models, we propose to express the slow-roll parameters and the relevant observables in terms of frame and reparametrization invariant quantities. The adopted invariant formalism makes manifest the redundancy that afflicts the current description of inflation dynamics and offers a straightforward way to identify classes of models which yield identical phenomenology. In this Letter, we offer a step-to-step recipe to recast every single field inflationary model in the proposed formalism, detailing also the procedure to compute inflationary observables in terms of frame and reparametrization invariant quantities. We hope that our results become the cornerstone of a new categorization of viable inflationary models and open the way to a deeper understanding of the inflation mechanism.

  • Received 13 January 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.118.151302

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Gravitation, Cosmology & AstrophysicsParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Laur Järv1,*, Kristjan Kannike2, Luca Marzola1,2, Antonio Racioppi2, Martti Raidal1,2, Mihkel Rünkla1, Margus Saal1, and Hardi Veermäe2

  • 1Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, W. Ostwaldi 1, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
  • 2National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Rävala 10, 10143 Tallinn, Estonia

  • *Corresponding author. laur.jarv@ut.ee

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Vol. 118, Iss. 15 — 14 April 2017

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