Inflation in non-minimal matter-curvature coupling theories

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2017

Authors

Gomes, C (Author) Other; Rosa, JG (Author) FCUP; Bertolami, O (Author) FCUP

Journal

Title: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

Vol. 2017

Pages: 021-021

ISSN: 1475-7516

Publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 33 Citations

Scopus - 34 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00M-V9F

DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2017/06/021

Abstract (EN): We study inflationary scenarios driven by a scalar field in the presence of a non-minimal coupling between matter and curvature. We show that the Friedmann equation can be significantly modified when the energy density during inflation exceeds a critical value determined by the non-minimal coupling, which in turn may considerably modify the spectrum of primordial perturbations and the inflationary dynamics. In particular, we show that these models are characterised by a consistency relation between the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the tensor spectral index that can differ significantly from the predictions of general relativity. We also give examples of observational predictions for some of the most commonly considered potentials and use the results of the Planck collaboration to set limits on the scale of the non-minimal coupling.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 17