Ultra-slow-roll inflation with quantum diffusion

Abstract

We consider the effect of quantum diffusion on the dynamics of the inflaton during a period of ultra-slow-roll inflation. We extend the stochastic-$\delta\mathcal{N}$ formalism to the ultra-slow-roll regime and show how this system can be solved analytically in both the classical-drift and quantum-diffusion dominated limits. By deriving the characteristic function, we are able to construct the full probability distribution function for the primordial density field. In the diffusion-dominated limit, we recover an exponential tail for the probability distribution, as found previously in slow-roll inflation. To complement these analytical techniques, we present numerical results found both by very large numbers of simulations of the Langevin equations, and through a new, more efficient approach based on iterative Volterra integrals. We illustrate these techniques with two examples of potentials that exhibit an ultra-slow-roll phase leading to the possible production of primordial black holes.