The Effective Field Theory of Multifield Inflation

TL;DR

This paper extends the Effective Field Theory of Inflation to include multiple light scalar fields, exploring their effects on cosmological perturbations and non-Gaussianities, with implications for distinguishing inflation models.

Contribution

It develops a general Lagrangian for multifield inflation with light scalars, analyzing their impact on non-Gaussianities and potential observational signatures.

Findings

Multifield inflation can produce unique non-Gaussianity shapes.

Suppression of three-point functions can make four-point functions dominant.

Detection of specific non-Gaussian shapes can distinguish inflation models.

Abstract

We generalize the Effective Field Theory of Inflation to include additional light scalar degrees of freedom that are in their vacuum at the time the modes of interest are crossing the horizon. In order to make the scalars light in a natural way we consider the case where they are the Goldstone bosons of a global symmetry group or are partially protected by an approximate supersymmetry. We write the most general Lagrangian that couples the scalar mode associated to the breaking of time translation during inflation to the additional light scalar fields. This Lagrangian is constrained by diffeomorphism invariance and the additional symmetries that keep the new scalars light. This Lagrangian describes the fluctuations around the time of horizon crossing and it is supplemented with a general parameterization describing how the additional fluctuating fields can affect cosmological perturbations. We find that multifield inflation can reproduce the non-Gaussianities that can be generated in single field inflation but can also give rise to new kinds of non-Gaussianities. We find several new three-point function shapes. We show that in multifield inflation it is possible to naturally suppress the three-point function making the four-point function the leading source of detectable non-Gaussianities. We find that under certain circumstances, i.e. if specific shapes of non-Gaussianities are detected in the data, one could distinguish between single and multifield inflation and sometimes even among the various mechanisms that kept the additional fields light.