Excursion into Quantum Gravity via Inflation
arXiv:1403.5100 · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2014.08.022
Abstract
The discovery of B-modes, and their effect on the fit to inflationary parameters, opens a window to explore quantum gravity. In this paper we adopt an effective theory approach to study quantum gravity effects in inflation. We apply this approach to chaotic and $Ï^4$ inflation, and find that BICEP2 constrains these new operators to values which are consistent with the effective theory approach. This result opens the possibility to study quantum gravity in a systematic fashion, including its effect on Higgs inflation and other Starobisnky-like models.
10 pages, 3 figures