Multiple field inflation

Abstract

Inflation offers a simple model for very early evolution of our universe and the origin of primordial perturbations on large scales. Over the last 25 years we have become familiar with the predictions of single-field models, but inflation with more than one light scalar field can alter preconceptions about the inflationary dynamics and our predictions for the primordial perturbations. I will discuss how future observational data could distinguish between inflation driven by one field, or many fields. As an example, I briefly review the curvation as an alternative to the inflaton scenario for the origin of structure. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.