OKC colloquia

Early Universe cosmology with multiple fields: theory and observations

by Dr Oksana Iarygina

Europe/Stockholm
FA32 (AlbaNova Main Building)

FA32

AlbaNova Main Building

Description

Inflation is the leading framework for physics of the very early universe. It provides an elegant solution for the horizon and flatness problems as well as a mechanism to seed quantum fluctuations which is in excellent agreement with the latest observational tests. Typically, scalar fields play a major role in inflationary model-building since they do not spoil the homogeneity and isotropy of the background cosmology. However, models of particle physics generically include gauge fields and their presence in the inflationary epoch may significantly influence cosmological predictions. In this colloquium I will review the state of the art of inflation and discuss how the presence of additional scalar and gauge fields during inflation can amplify primordial stochastic gravitational wave background and produce potentially observable non-Gaussianity. I will explain why detection of local non-Gaussianity with an amplitude of order one would rule out all attractor models of single-field inflation and discuss what would such detection tell us about multiple-field inflation.