On degenerate models of cosmic inflation

Abstract

In this article we discuss the role of current and future CMB measurements in pinning down the model of inflation responsible for the generation of primordial curvature perturbations. By considering a parameterization of the effective field theory of inflation with a modified dispersion relation arising from heavy fields, we derive the dependence of cosmological observables on the scale of heavy physics ${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{UV}}$. Specifically, we show how the $f_{\mathrm{NL}}$ non-linearity parameters are related to the phase velocity of curvature perturbations at horizon exit, which is parameterized by ${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{UV}}$. Bicep2 and Planck findings are shown to be consistent with a value ${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{UV}}\sim {\Lambda }_{\mathrm{GUT}}$. However, we find a degeneracy in the parameter space of inflationary models that can only be resolved with a detailed knowledge of the shape of the non-Gaussian bispectrum.

Comments: 22pp., 1 fig; v2: added some clarifications and references, corrected typos, matches published version