Paper detail

Observable Quantum Loop Effects in the Sky

Expanding on [1], we analyze in detail the single field chaotic inflationary models plus a cosine modulation term, augmented by a light scalar field with inflaton dependent oscillatory mass term. We work out in detail the Feynman diagrams and compute one, two and in general estimate higher loop two and three point functions in the in-in formulation. We explicitly establish how the oscillatory mass term can amplify one-loop effects to dominate over the tree as well as the higher loop contributions. The power spectrum of curvature perturbations of this model is hence enhanced compared to the simple single field chaotic model. As a consequence, one can suppress the tensor to scalar ratio r and have a different expression for scalar spectral tilt and the running of the tilt, opening the way to reconcile chaotic models with convex potential and the Planck data. As in monodromy inflation models, we also have a cosine modulation in the spectral tilt. We also analyze the bispectrum, which can be dominated by the amplified one-loop effects, yielding a new shape in non-Gassuianty. We discuss the bounds on parameter space from all available CMB observables and possible implications for reheating.