Supersymmetric hybrid inflation with a light scalar

Abstract

Light scalar fields present during inflation can lead to interesting observable signatures, especially in models with non-equilibrium reheating dynamics. We study a supersymmetric hybrid inflation model with a third scalar whose lightness is protected by symmetry, using analytical and numerical techniques, and demonstrate that the amplitude, the spectral index and the non-Gaussianity parameter fNL of the primordial curvature perturbation are within the Planck observational bounds for suitable parameter values.

8 pages, 7 figures, v2: updated to journal version