Non-minimally Coupled Scalar $k$-Inflation Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper investigates non-minimally coupled $k$-inflation models with higher-order kinetic terms, analyzing their compatibility with observational data and exploring their Einstein frame counterparts.

Contribution

It extends $k$-inflation theory by including non-minimal coupling and higher-order kinetic terms, demonstrating observational viability in certain scenarios.

Findings

Slow-roll models with potential align with Planck data.

Constant-roll models with potential are also compatible.

Models without potential are generally non-viable, especially with power-law coupling.

Abstract

In this work we shall study $k$-inflation theories with non-minimal coupling of the scalar field to gravity, in the presence of only a higher order kinetic term of the form $\sim \mathrm{const}\times X^{\mu}$, with $X=\frac{1}{2}\partial_{\mu}\phi\partial^{\mu}\phi$. The study will be focused in the cases where a scalar potential is included or is absent, and the evolution of the scalar field will be assumed to satisfy the slow-roll or the constant-roll condition. In the case of the slow-roll models with scalar potential, we shall calculate the slow-roll indices, and the corresponding observational indices of the theory, and we demonstrate that the resulting theory is compatible with the latest Planck data. The same results are obtained in the constant-roll case, at least in the presence of a scalar potential. In the case that models without potential are considered, the results are less appealing since these are strongly model dependent, and at least for a power-law choice of the non-minimal coupling, the theory is non-viable. Finally, due to the fact that the scalar and tensor power spectra are conformal invariant quantities, we argue that the Einstein frame counterpart of the non-minimal $k$-inflation models with scalar potential, can be a viable theory, due to the conformal invariance of the observational indices. The Einstein frame theory is more involved and thus more difficult to work with it analytically, so one implication of our work is that we provide evidence for the viability of another class of $k$-inflation models.