2025/12/02 by Renata Kallosh, Andrei Linde, Kallosh, Renata +1
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Boundary value problem #Class (philosophy) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Inflaton #Moduli #Polynomial #Quantum Electrodynamics and Casimir Effect #Simple (philosophy) #Singularity #Supergravity
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.02969
published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)
openalex publication_date 2025/12/02 · openalex created_date 2025/12/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
α-attractor models naturally appear in supergravity with hyperbolic geometry. The simplest versions of α-attractors, T- and E-models, originate from theories with non-singular potentials. In canonical variables, these potentials have a plateau that is approached exponentially fast at large values of the inflaton field φ. In a closely related class of polynomial α-attractors, or P-models, the potential is not singular, but its derivative is singular at the boundary. The resulting inflaton potential also has a plateau, but it is approached polynomially. In this paper, we will consider a more general class of potentials, which can be singular at the boundary of the moduli space, S-models. These potentials may have a short plateau, after which the potential may grow polynomially or exponentially at large values of the inflaton field. We will show that this class of models may provide a simple solution to the initial conditions problem for α-attractors and may account for a very broad range of possible values of ns matching the recent ACT, SPT, and DESI data.