arXiv subjects

Xiao-Min Zhang

Publications and source records attributed to Xiao-Min Zhang.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Dynamics of potential-free warm $\mathbf{k}$-inflation with nonminimal derivative coupling

In contrast to potential-driven warm inflation models, this paper presents a new inflationary scenario driven purely by noncanonical kinetic terms. We derive the evolution equations and the associated slow-roll approximations specific to the kinetic case. The model incorporates a nonminimal derivative coupling that enhances gravitational friction; when combined with thermal damping, this leads to a significantly slower evolution of the pure kinetic inflaton. The resulting slow-roll approximations differ fundamentally from those of potential-driven inflation. The attractor behavior of this warm $k$-inflation with nonminimal derivative coupling is explored, confirming that slow-roll solutions can approach a strict exponential expansion attractor under relaxed slow-roll conditions. We further calculate the density fluctuation equations and obtain analytic expressions for the power spectrum, spectral index, and tensor-to-scalar ratio. Compared to standard inflation in general relativity, the energy scale at horizon crossing is lower, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio is significantly reduced due to the combined effects of thermal damping and nonminimal derivative coupling. The field excursion remains comfortably sub-Planckian. The model's predictions are in excellent agreement with the latest Planck 2018 data, offering a novel and successful extension of the warm inflation paradigm.

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arXiv2026

Dynamics and observational signatures of warm Dirac-Born-Infeld inflation with nonminimal derivative coupling

This paper investigates a warm Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflationary model with nonminimal derivative coupling (NMDC) to gravity, where the inflaton kinetic term interacts with the Einstein tensor, thereby improving the effective gravitational friction. This model seamlessly integrates the noncanonical DBI kinetic structure, the NMDC-induced gravitational friction, and thermal dissipation. We formulate the background evolution equations along with the corresponding slow-roll stability conditions, leading to analytic results for the scalar spectral index $n_s$ and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $R$. By applying these results to power-law potentials with $n=2$ and $n=4$, the model parameter space is constrained using the \emph{Planck} 2018 data. The findings indicate that the interaction between NMDC-induced gravitational friction and thermal dissipation effectively modulates $n_s$ and significantly expands the viable parameter space. In the $(n_s,R)$ plane, the predictions for $N=50$ fall within the 95\% confidence-level region, while those for $N=60$ extend into the 68\% confidence-level region and approach the observationally preferred central values. For the representative parameter choices examined, the tensor-to-scalar ratio is notably suppressed, generally within the range $10^{-8}\lesssim R\lesssim10^{-5}$. Moreover, the combined damping mechanism relaxes the slow-roll condition related to $η$ and limits the inflaton field excursion, thus addressing the $η$ problem without incurring super-Planckian field variations. These results indicate that warm DBI inflation with NMDC offers a theoretically coherent and observationally viable inflationary model, showcasing the complementary effects of thermal dissipation and enhanced gravitational friction in the context of modified gravity.

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arXiv2025

Primordial non-Gaussianity in noncanonical warm inflation with nonminimal derivative coupling

This paper presents and investigates non-Gaussian perturbations for the warm k-inflation model that is driven by pure kinetic energy. The two complementary components of the overall non-Gaussianity are the three-point and four-point correlations. The intrinsic non-Gaussian component, denoted as the nonlinear parameter f_{NL}^{int}, is rooted in the three-point correlation for the inflaton field. Meanwhile, the δN part non-Gaussianity, denoted as f_{NL}^{δN}, is the contribution attributed to the four-point correlation function of the inflaton field. In this paper, the above two components in warm k-inflation are individually computed and analyzed. Then, comparisons and discussions between them are conducted, and the non-Gaussian theoretical results are compared with experimental observations to determine the range of model parameters within the allowable range of observation.

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arXiv2024

Noncanonical warm inflation with nonminimal derivative coupling

This study extended noncanonical warm inflation to the nonminimal derivative coupling scenario. The fundamental equations, including the evolution equations and the slow roll equations of this new framework, were derived. The enlarged damping term, which encompasses both gravitationally enhanced friction and thermal damping, resulted in a well overdamped inflationary process, ensuring that the slow roll approximations can be satisfactorily satisfied. A linear stability analysis corroborated the viability of this approach, yielding significantly relaxed slow roll conditions within the context of noncanonical warm inflation with nonminimal derivative coupling. Subsequently, the density fluctuations in this new framework were analyzed, leading to approximately analytic results for the power spectrum, spectral index, and related quantities. Both the energy scale at horizon crossing and the tensor-to-scalar ratio decreased considerably because of the effects of thermal damping and nonminimal derivative coupling. The upper bound for field excursion remained safely sub-Planckian in this inflationary scenario. Thus we reached a successful and meaningful model to broad the scope of warm inflation.

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arXiv2023

Properties of quark-matter cores in massive hybrid stars

Using the constraints from astrophysical observations and heavy-ion experiments, we investigate the equation of state (EOS) of hybrid star matter and the properties of quark-matter cores in hybrid stars. The quark matter interactions in hybrid stars are described based on 3-flavor Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with various vector and vector-isovector coupling constants. In this work, we find that the hybrid star matter EOS is more sensitive to the strength of the vector interaction, and the EOS becomes stiffer with increasing vector strength $R_V$. The vector-isovector interaction characterized by the coupling constant $R_{IV}$ make main contribution to the hadron-quark mixed phase. Meanwhile, we note that a step change of both the sound velocity and the polytropic index $γ$ occurs in the hadron-quark phase transition, and it is restored with the decrease of nucleon and lepton degrees of freedom in the high density quark phase. Although the coupling constants increase the hybrid star maximum mass up to $2.08M_{\odot}$, they also decrease the mass and radius of the quark core and the mixed core. With different quark coupling constants, we also find that the maximum mass and radius of the quark matter core in a stable hybrid star can reach $0.80M_{\odot}$ and 6.95 km, which are close to half of the maximum mass and radius of the complete star. However, properties of quark matter have no effect on the $M = 1.4M_{\odot}$ hybrid star as a result of no quark matter inner core, which can also be confirmed by the criterion of the polytropic index, and thus our results also indicate that the quark interactions have no effect on the tidal deformability $Λ_{1.4}$ of hybrid stars.

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arXiv2023

Non-Gaussianity in the warm k-inflation

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arXiv2021

Two models unifying warm inflation with dark matter and dark energy

Two models that unify warm inflation with dark matter and dark energy are proposed. In the models, a single scalar field is responsible for the early expansion of the universe through the process of dissipative warm inflation and then acts as both dark matter and dark energy in subsequent stages. The first model is based on a noncanonical field with the Lagrangian density $\mathcal{L}=F(X)-V(ϕ)$, where the potential is dominant at the slow-roll inflationary epoch and negligible in subsequent stages. The second model takes advantage of a $k$-essence Lagrangian density having the coupled form $\mathcal{L}=F(X)V(ϕ)$. For both models, equations of the evolution for the fields and observational constraints are presented, and an evolution law describing how the energy density $ρ$ and state parameter $w$ scale with the scale factor $a$ is obtained.

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arXiv2020

Consistency of a kind of general noncanonical warm inflation

The framework of a kind of noncanonical warm inflation is introduced, and the dynamical equations of this scenario are presented. We propose the slow roll approximations and give some redefining slow roll parameters in this scenario which remain dimensionless. Performing systemic stability analysis, we calculate the slow roll conditions to guarantee that slow roll approximations hold. The slow roll conditions suggest slow roll inflation in general noncanonical warm inflationary scenario can still exist, and in addition, the slow roll approximations are more easily to be satisfied. Then, a concrete Dirac-Born-Infeld warm inflationary model is studied.

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arXiv2019

Non-Gaussianity in a general kind noncanonical warm inflation

The general kind noncanonical warm inflation is introduced and its total non-Gaussianity of perturbation on uniform energy density hypersurfaces is studied. The total non-Gaussianity contains two complementary parts: the three- and the four-point correlations. The three-point correlation part denoted by $f^{int}_{NL}$, comes from the three-point correlation of inflaton field, while the four-point correlation part, denoted by $f_{NL}^{δN}$, is the contribution due to the four-point correlation function of the inflaton field. The aforementioned two parts of non-Gaussianity in general noncanonical warm inflation are calculated and analysed respectively, and the comparisons and discussions of the two parts are finally carried out in this study.

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arXiv2019

Observational Constraints on Two-field Warm Inflation

We study the two-field warm inflation models with a double quadratic potential and a linear temperature dependent dissipative coefficient. We derived the evolution equation of all kinds of perturbations without assuming slow-roll approximation, and obtained the curvature power spectrum at the end of inflation with a fully numerical method. Then we compute the scalar spectral index $n_s$, tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ for several representative potentials, and compare our results with observational data. At last, we use Planck data to constrain the parameters in our models. This work is a natural extension of single-field warm inflation, and the aim of this work is to present some features of multi-field warm inflation using a simple two-field model.

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arXiv2018

Noncanonical warm inflation: a model with a general Lagrangian density

Warm inflation is extended from the canonical field to the noncanonical field with a general Lagrangian density having coupling form of kinetic and potential terms. We develop the motion equation of the noncanonical inflaton field, and notice the motion equation has an annoying coupling term $\mathcal{L}_{Xφ}\dotφ^2$, which makes the inflation difficult to solve. It is found that a special field redefinition exists, making the motion equation of inflaton uncoupled. Then we can solve inflation in the special field representation for convenience. The relation of field redefinition between the special uncoupled field and general noncanonical field is obtained. The motion equations and slow roll approximations of noncanonical warm inflation in the special field representation are developed. Then we give two examples to show how to translate a general noncanonical Lagrangian density in the coupled $φ$ representation, to the uncoupled $ϕ$ representation. Finally, the cosmological perturbations generated by the new kind of warm inflation is calculated.

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arXiv2018

Two-field Warm Inflation and Its Scalar Perturbations on Large Scales

We explore the homogeneous background dynamics and the evolution of generated perturbations of cosmological inflation that is driven by multiple scalar fields interacting with a perfect fluid.Then we apply the method to warm inflation driven by two scalar fields and a radiation fluid, and present general results about the evolution of the inflaton and radiation. After decomposing the perturbations into adiabatic and entropy modes, we give the equation of motion of adiabatic and entropy perturbations on large scales. Then, we give numerical results of background and perturbation equations in a concrete model (the dissipative coefficient $Γ\propto H$). At last, we use the most recent observational data to constrain our models and give the observationally allowed regions of parameters. This work is a natural extension of warm inflation to multi-field cases.

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arXiv2018

Perturbation spectra in the warm $k$-inflation

We investigate the cosmological perturbation theory and calculate the perturbation spectra in the warm $k$-inflation. Unlike the scalar perturbations of $k$-inflation in the cold inflationary scenario, entropy perturbations should be considered in our model. We study how the entropy perturbations affect the evolution of curvature perturbation $\mathcal{R}$ on the comoving hypersurfaces and find the dissipation coefficient $Γ$ plays a central role in the entropy perturbations and the evolution equation of $\mathcal{R}$. In the weak dissipation condition, entropy perturbations on the large scale can be neglected such that the primordial spectrum of cosmological perturbations is due only to adiabatic perturbations. Like general warm inflationary models, density fluctuations also mainly originated from the thermal fluctuations of the inflaton field rather than the vacuum fluctuations in our model. Finally, we calculate the perturbation spectra and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, then find the tensor-to-scalar ratio is smaller than that in the $k$-inflation or the general potential-driven cold inflationary models.

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arXiv2017

Primordial non-Gaussianity in noncanonical warm inflation: three- and four-point correlations

Non-Gaussianity generated in inflation can be contributed by two parts. The first part, denoted by $f_{NL}^{δN}$, is the contribution from four-point correlation of inflaton field which can be calculated using $δN$ formalism, and the second part, denoted by $f_{NL}^{int}$, is the contribution from the three-point correlation function of the inflaton field. We consider the two contributions to the non-Gaussianity in noncanonical warm inflation throughout (noncanonical warm inflation is a new inflationary model which is proposed in \cite{Zhang2014}). We find the two contributions are complementary to each other. The four-point correlation contribution to the non-Gaussianity is overwhelmed by the three-point one in strong noncanonical limit, while the conclusion is opposite in the canonical case. We also discuss the influence of the field redefinition, thermal dissipative effect and noncanonical effect to the non-Gaussianity in noncanonical warm inflation.

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arXiv2016

Consistency of warm k-inflation

We extend the k-inflation which is a type of kinetically driven inflationary model under the standard inflationary scenario to a possible warm inflationary scenario. The dynamical equations of this warm k-inflation model are obtained. We rewrite the slow-roll parameters which are different from the usual potential driven inflationary models and perform a linear stability analysis to give the proper slow-roll conditions in the warm k-inflation. Two cases, a power-law kinetic function and an exponential kinetic function, are studied, when the dissipative coefficient $Γ=Γ_0$ and $Γ=Γ(ϕ)$, respectively. A proper number of e-folds is obtained in both concrete cases of warm k-inflation. We find a constant dissipative coefficient ($Γ=Γ_0$) is not a workable choice for these two cases while the two cases with $Γ=Γ(ϕ)$ are self-consistent warm inflationary models.

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arXiv2015

Primordial non-Gaussianity in warm inflation using $δN$ formalism

A $δN$ formalism is used to study the non-Gaussianity of the primordial curvature perturbation on an uniform density hypersurfaces generated by the warm inflation for the first time. After introducing the framework of the warm inflation and the $δN$ formalism, we obtain an analytic expression for the nonlinear parameter $f_{NL}$ that describes the non-Gaussianity in slow roll approximation, and find that the $δN$ formalism gives a very good result. We analyse the magnitude of $f_{NL}$ and compare our result with those of the standard inflation. Then we discuss two concrete examples: the quartic chaotic model and the hilltop model. The quartic potential model can again be in very good agreement with the Planck results in the warm inflationary scenario, and we give out the concrete results of how the nonlinear parameter depends on the dissipation strength of the warm inflation and the amounts of expansion. We find that the range of the nonlinear parameters in these two cases are both well inside of the allowed region of Planck.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2014

Extension of warm inflation to noncanonical scalar fields

We extend the warm inflationary scenario to the case of the noncanonical scalar fields. The equation of motion and the other basic equations of this new scenario are obtained. The Hubble damped term is enhanced in noncanonical inflation. A linear stability analysis is performed to give the proper slow-roll conditions in warm noncanonical inflation. We study the density fluctuations in the new picture and obtain an approximate analytic expression of the power spectrum. The energy scale at the horizon crossing is depressed by both noncanonical effect and thermal effect, and so is the tensor-to-scalar ratio. Besides the synergy, the noncanonical effect and the thermal effect are competing in the case of the warm noncanonical inflation.

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arXiv2014

Primordial non-Gaussianity in noncanonical warm inflation

We study the bispectrum of the primordial curvature perturbation on uniform-density hypersurfaces generated by a kind of the noncanonical warm inflation, wherein the inflation is provided by a noncanonical scalar inflaton field that is coupled to radiation through a thermal dissipation effect. We obtain an analytic form for the nonlinear parameter $f_{NL}$ that describes the non-Gaussianity in first-order cosmological perturbation theory and analyse the magnitude of this nonlinear parameter. We make a comparison between our result and those of the standard inflation and the canonical warm inflation. We also discuss when the contribution to the non-Gaussianity due to the second-order perturbation theory becomes more important and what effect can be observed. We take the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) inflation as a concrete example to find how the sound speed and the thermal dissipation strength to decide the non-Gaussianity and to get a lower bound of the sound speed constrained by PLANCK.

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