A Natural Inflation inspired model

TL;DR

This paper introduces a modified Natural Inflation model allowing a symmetry breaking scale below the Planck scale, demonstrating its viability through numerical examples consistent with current observational constraints.

Contribution

It presents a new variation of the Natural Inflation potential that operates at sub-Planckian scales, expanding the theoretical possibilities for inflation models.

Findings

Model can satisfy observational constraints on $n_s$ and $r$

Numerical examples show feasible inflationary scenarios

Maintains expected number of e-folds during inflation

Abstract

We propose a modification of the Natural Inflation (NI) potential in such a way that the spontaneous symmetry breaking scale $f$ can take values less than one (in Planck units). The proposed potential seems simple enough, however, its consequences are difficult to calculate analytically. Therefore, we illustrate the feasibility of the model by considering some numerical examples that easily satisfy the conditions imposed on the observables $n_s$ and $r$ by the most recent observations, while at the same time maintaining the number of e-folds during the inflationary epoch within the expected range.