Resurrecting Quadratic Inflation in No-Scale Supergravity in Light of BICEP2

Abstract

The magnitude of primordial tensor perturbations reported by the BICEP2 experiment is consistent with simple models of chaotic inflation driven by a single scalar field with a power-law potential $\propto \phi^n: n \simeq 2$, in contrast to the WMAP and Planck results, which favored models resembling the Starobinsky $R + R^2$ model if running of the scalar spectral index could be neglected. While models of inflation with a quadratic potential may be constructed in simple $N=1$ supergravity, these constructions are more challenging in no-scale supergravity. We discuss here how quadratic inflation can be accommodated within supergravity, focussing primarily on the no-scale case. We also argue that the quadratic inflaton may be identified with the supersymmetric partner of a singlet (right-handed) neutrino, whose subsequent decay could have generated the baryon asymmetry via leptogenesis.

Publication
JCAP 05, 037
Next
Previous