T-Model Inflation and Bouncing Cosmology

Sloan, David and Dimopoulos, Konstantinos and Karamitsos, Sotirios (2020) T-Model Inflation and Bouncing Cosmology. Physical Review D, 101 (4): 043521. ISSN 1550-7998

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Abstract

We examine the dynamics of a closed cosmology whose matter source is that of a conformally coupled scalar field with a broken SO(1, 1) symmetry, which correspond to the α-attractors proposed by Linde and Kallosh. Following a field redefinition, such models give rise to “T-model” inflationary potentials, whose dynamics provide both an inflationary phase and a classical bounce. We show that the universe can undergo bounces far from the regime of quantum gravity (i.e. at energy densities lower than the Planck density). We analyse perturbations on this background with particular attention given to the effects of a double-bouncing scenario (with rapid recollapse between bounces) on the long wavelength modes. We demonstrate that the predictions of such models agree well with observations and might explain the suppression of power in the low multiples of the CMB.