The Hubble flow of plateau inflation

Dries Coone, Diederik Roest, Vincent Vennin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

119 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In the absence of CMB precision measurements, a Taylor expansion has often been invoked to parametrize the Hubble flow function during inflation. The standard ``horizon flow'' procedure implicitly relies on this assumption. However, the recent Planck results indicate a strong preference for plateau inflation, which suggests the use of Padé approximants instead. We propose a novel method that provides analytic solutions of the flow equations for a given parametrization of the Hubble function. This method is illustrated in the Taylor and Padé cases, for low order expansions. We then present the results of a full numerical treatment scanning larger order expansions, and compare these parametrizations in terms of convergence, prior dependence, predictivity and compatibility with the data. Finally, we highlight the implications for potential reconstruction methods.
Original languageEnglish
Article number010
Number of pages20
JournalJournal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Volume2015
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 6 Nov 2015

Keywords

  • RCUK
  • STFC
  • ST/L005573/1
  • inflation
  • physics of the early universe

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Hubble flow of plateau inflation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this