Cosmological $\alpha$-Attractors and de Sitter Landscape

TL;DR

This paper unifies cosmological $ ext{alpha}$-attractors with late-time acceleration, demonstrating their stability and versatility within supergravity, and aligning well with Planck data.

Contribution

It introduces a supergravity model with two superfields that enhances the attractor behavior and allows for flexible inflaton potentials.

Findings

Attractors are stable against cosmological constant variations.

The model aligns with latest Planck observational data.

Specific couplings can generate arbitrary inflaton potentials.

Abstract

We provide a unified description of cosmological $\alpha$-attractors and late-time acceleration, in excellent agreement with the latest Planck data. Our construction involves two superfields playing distinctive roles: one is the dynamical field and its evolution determines inflation and dark energy, the other is nilpotent and responsible for a landscape of vacua and supersymmetry breaking. We prove that the attractor nature of the theory is enhanced when combining the two sectors: cosmological attractors are very stable with respect to any possible value of the cosmological constant and, interestingly, to any generic coupling of the inflationary sector with the field responsible for uplifting. Finally, as related result, we show how specific couplings generate an arbitrary inflaton potential in a supergravity framework with varying Kahler curvature.