Observational constraints on slow-roll inflation coupled to a Gauss-Bonnet term

TL;DR

This paper explores how a nonminimally coupled Gauss-Bonnet term affects slow-roll inflation, analyzing inflationary solutions and comparing theoretical predictions with observational data from Planck and BICEP2.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of inflationary dynamics with a Gauss-Bonnet coupling and constrains the model using current observational data.

Findings

Constraints on Gauss-Bonnet coupling from observational data

Predictions for scalar and tensor power spectra

Compatibility of the model with Planck and BICEP2 results

Abstract

We study slow-roll inflation with a Gauss-Bonnet term that is coupled to an inflaton field nonminimally. We investigate the inflationary solutions for a specific type of the nonminimal coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet term and inflaton potential both analytically and numerically. We also calculate the observable quantities such as the power spectra of the scalar and tensor modes, the spectral indices, the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the running spectral indices. Finally, we constrain our result with the observational data by Planck and BICEP2 experiment.