Inflationary Cosmology: From Theory to Observations

TL;DR

This paper provides an overview of cosmic inflation, explaining how it addresses key cosmological problems and how recent observations constrain inflationary models involving a scalar field.

Contribution

It offers a qualitative introduction to inflationary theory and demonstrates how current observational data constrain inflationary parameters and models.

Findings

Current surveys constrain inflationary parameters $(n_s, r)$

Observations help select viable inflationary models

Inflation solves fundamental cosmological problems

Abstract

The main aim of this paper is to provide a qualitative introduction to the cosmic inflation and its relationship with current cosmological observations. The inflationary model solves many of the fundamental problems that challenge the Standard Big Bang cosmology i.e. Flatness, Horizon and Monopole problem, and additionally provides an explanation for the initial conditions observed throughout the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe, such as galaxies. In this review we describe the general solutions carry out by a single scalar field. Then with the use of current surveys, we show the constraints imposed on the inflationary parameters $(n_{\rm s},r)$ which allow us to make the connection between theoretical and observational cosmology. In this way, with the latest results, it is possible to choose or at least to constrain the right inflationary model, parameterised by a single scalar field potential $V(\phi)$.