# How to Produce an Arbitrarily Small Tensor to Scalar Ratio

## TL;DR

This paper presents a toy model demonstrating that large field single scalar inflation can produce an arbitrarily small tensor-to-scalar ratio, challenging the notion that non-detection of r rules out large field inflation.

## Contribution

It generalizes alpha-attractor models to show that the tensor-to-scalar ratio can be made arbitrarily small, even in large field inflation scenarios.

## Key findings

- Large field inflation can yield very small tensor-to-scalar ratios.
- Non-detection of r does not necessarily rule out large field inflation.
- The model approaches a constant potential rapidly for super-Planckian fields.

## Abstract

We construct a toy a model which demonstrates that large field single scalar inflation can produce an arbitrarily small scalar to tensor ratio in the window of e-foldings recoverable from CMB experiments. This is done by generalizing the $\alpha$-attractor models to allow the potential to approach a constant as rapidly as we desire for super-planckian field values. This implies that a non-detection of r alone can never rule out entirely the theory of large field inflation.