Climbing over the potential barrier during inflation via null energy condition violation
Abstract The violation of the null energy condition (NEC) may play a crucial role in enabling a scalar field to climb over high potential barriers, potentially significant in the very early universe. We propose a single-field model where the universe sequentially undergoes a first stage of slow-roll...
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| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SpringerOpen
2024-09-01
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| Series: | European Physical Journal C: Particles and Fields |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13340-1 |
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| Summary: | Abstract The violation of the null energy condition (NEC) may play a crucial role in enabling a scalar field to climb over high potential barriers, potentially significant in the very early universe. We propose a single-field model where the universe sequentially undergoes a first stage of slow-roll inflation, NEC violation, and a second stage of slow-roll inflation. Through the NEC violation, the scalar field climbs over high potential barriers, leaving unique characteristics on the primordial gravitational wave power spectrum, including a blue-tilted nature in the middle-frequency range and diminishing oscillation amplitudes at higher frequencies. Additionally, the power spectrum exhibits nearly scale-invariant behavior on both large and small scales. |
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| ISSN: | 1434-6052 |