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arXiv · 1209.4266

Modulation of the waterfall by a gauge field

David H. Lyth·Mindaugas Karciauskas
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Abstract

We present the first complete calculation of the curvature perturbation generated during the hybrid inflation waterfall, caused by the coupling of the waterfall field to a gauge field A whose kinetic function f^2 depends on the inflaton field. We impose an upper bound on the field W=f*A which ensures that it has a negligible effect before the waterfall. We confirm the claim of Soda and Yokoyama, that the perturbation δW generates a statistically anisotropic spectrum and bispectrum, which could easily be observable. We also discover a new phenomenon, whereby the time-dependent `varyon' field W causes the inflaton contribution to vary during the waterfall. The varyon mechanism might be implemented also with a scalar field and might not involve the waterfall.

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David H. Lyth, Mindaugas Karciauskas. 2012-09-19. Modulation of the waterfall by a gauge field. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516%2F2013%2F01%2F031

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