When: Wednesday, November 23, 2022, 3:30 PM - 5:00 PMWhere: Physics (G. O. Jones building) Room 516 & online, Mile End
Speaker: Laura Iacconi (QMUL)
In this talk, I will discuss small-scale enhancements of scalar fluctuations in alpha-attractor models of inflation. In particular, I will focus on single- and multi-field alpha-attractors with an inflection-point potential. In the single-field case, the presence of a non-stationary inflection point leads to a phase of ultra-slow roll inflation, and consequent growth of the scalar fluctuations on small scales. In the multi-field set up, the kinetic term is non-canonical and geometry and turning trajectories in field space are responsible for a peak in the scalar power spectrum on small scales. In both cases, I will connect the large-scale predictions of these models with the small-scale phenomenology, in particular focussing on PBHs production and second-order GWs generation. I will discuss the impact that compatibility with CMB measurements has on the small-scale phenomenology.