Multifield Inflation Dynamics in Cosmological Models
Summary
Multifield inflation posits that the exponential expansion of the early Universe is governed not by a single scalar field but by several fields whose interactions and collective evolution shape the primordial fluctuations. In such models, the fields trace trajectories on a curved manifold—often with negative curvature—so that geometrical effects and ‘centrifugal’ forces become central to the inflationary dynamics. Rapid deviations from geodesic motion, known as turns, can transiently amplify scalar perturbations, yielding enhanced regions in the power spectrum. These features can give rise to non-Gaussian signatures, primordial black holes or distinctive gravitational-wave backgrounds. Entropic or isocurvature modes, orthogonal to the adiabatic direction, can source additional curvature perturbations or feed into dark energy dynamics at later epochs. The curved field-space formalism also permits a unified treatment of slow-roll and rapid-turn attractors, shedding light on the stability of inflationary solutions and their compatibility with ultraviolet completions or swampland conjectures. Overall, multifield dynamics enrich the phenomenology of inflation, offering concrete observational targets for measurements of the cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure and stochastic gravitational waves.
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Multifield Inflation Dynamics in Cosmological Models publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in multifield inflation dynamics in cosmological models across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Multifield inflation: An inflationary scenario driven by two or more scalar fields evolving on a common potential landscape.
Field-space curvature: The geometric curvature of the manifold in which scalar fields move, influencing their trajectories and interactions.
Turn rate: The rate at which the inflationary trajectory in field space deviates from a geodesic path, often leading to transient amplification of perturbations.
Non-Gaussianity: Deviation of the statistical distribution of primordial fluctuations from a pure Gaussian shape, encoding interactions among modes.
Isocurvature perturbation: A fluctuation orthogonal to the adiabatic (total density) direction, often sourcing additional curvature modes.
Primordial black hole: A black hole formed in the early Universe from the collapse of enhanced density fluctuations during or immediately after inflation.
References
- Multi-field inflation with large scalar fluctuations: non-Gaussianity and perturbativity. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (2023).
- Dynamics of inspiraling dark energy. European Physical Journal C (2024).
- Turning in the landscape: A new mechanism for generating primordial black holes. Physics Letters B (2023).
- Rapid-Turn Inflationary Attractors. Physical Review Letters (2019).
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