Zhi-Chong Qiu | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Inflation in a nutshell: From basics to latest advances

Inflation is an elegant paradigm for the very early Universe. It not only offers a simple solution to the flatness and horizon puzzles of the standard hot Big Bang model, but also generates quantum fluctuations that seed CMB anisotropies and the formation of large-scale structure. In particular, both the spatial flatness of the Universe and a nearly Gaussian, scale-invariant power spectrum of the curvature perturbation predicted by inflation have been confirmed by various observations. Recently, a larger spectral index of curvature perturbation is preferred when combining with ACT DR6, and particularly when further including the $H_0$ prior from SH0ES, and then the Starobinsky inflation model is disfavored at more than $95\%$ confidence level. Even though modified reheating histories and non-minimal couplings have been proposed to achieve a larger value of the spectral index, the model with higher-order curvature corrections to Starobinsky inflation offers a concise and well-motivated explanation.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

The implications of inflation for the last ACT

We explored a parameterized slow-roll inflationary model within the $Λ$CDM framework, utilizing a combination of data from Planck 2018, ACT DR6, DESI DR2, and BICEP/Keck 2018 (P-ACT-LB-BK18). Additionally, we incorporated the SH0ES prior on $H_0$ (P-ACT-LB-BK18-$H_0$) to analyze the model within the early dark energy (EDE) framework. While the model with a potential $V(ϕ)\propto ϕ^α$ for small values of $α$ still fits the data, the Starobinsky $R^2$ inflation falls outside the $2σ$ region. On the other hand, in a self-consistent quantum theory of gravity, higher-order corrections to $R$ are typically anticipated. In response, we proposed a non-perturbative exponential $f(R)$ inflation model, wherein the subleading corrections beyond $R^2$ including terms like $R^3$ or $R^4$. Using numerical calculations and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis with the P-ACT-LB-BK18 data set, we demonstrate that this model can align well with the ACT-preferred value of the scalar spectral index. Additionally, within the early dark energy (EDE) framework, it accommodates greater deviations from the original Starobinsky $R^2$ inflation model when incorporating the SH0ES prior on $H_0$.

astro-ph.CO↗