Measuring the duration of inflation with the curvaton

TL;DR

This paper discusses how future observations can differentiate inflation models and proposes a method to measure the total duration of inflation if a curvaton field generates primordial perturbations after inflation.

Contribution

It introduces a way to measure the total duration of inflation using the curvaton scenario, enhancing understanding of inflationary models.

Findings

Future observations can distinguish between inflation models.

The total duration of inflation can be measured if a curvaton generates perturbations.

The paper provides a framework for observationally testing inflation duration.

Abstract

Simple models of single-field inflation in the very early universe can generate the observed amplitude and scale dependence of the primordial density perturbation, but models with multiple fields can provide an equally good fit to current data. We show how future observations will be able to distinguish between currently favoured models. If a curvaton field generates the primordial perturbations after inflation, we show how the total duration of inflation can be measured.