Generic scalar potentials for inflation in supergravity with a single chiral superfield

Abstract

We propose a large class of supergravity models in terms of a single chiral matter superfield, leading to (almost) arbitrary single-field inflationary scalar potentials similar to the F-term in rigid supersymmetry. Those scalar potentials are positively semi-definite (in our approximation), and can preserve supersymmetry at the end of inflation. The only scalar superpartner of inflaton is stabilized by a higher-dimensional term in the Kähler potential. We argue that couplings of the inflaton to other sectors of the particle spectrum do not affect the inflationary dynamics, and briefly discuss reheating of the universe by the inflaton decays.