In the realm of theoretical physics and cosmology, researchers Suratna Das, Umang Kumar, Swagat S. Mishra, and Varun Sahni from the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, India, have revisited a concept known as the Witten-O’Raifeartaigh potential in the context of a cosmological model called Warm Inflation. Their findings, published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, offer insights that could have implications for our understanding of the early universe and its evolution.
Warm Inflation is a scenario where the inflaton field, a hypothetical field thought to drive inflation in the early universe, dissipates its energy to maintain a constant, albeit subdominant, radiation bath. This model has two notable features: it can facilitate inflation even with very steep potentials, and it doesn’t require a separate post-inflation reheating phase. The researchers exploited the first feature to demonstrate that Warm Inflation can occur on the steep left wing of the Witten-O’Raifeartaigh potential, a specific type of potential energy curve, while staying in agreement with current cosmological data from Planck, ACT, and DESI surveys.
The Witten-O’Raifeartaigh potential also has a flatter right wing, which opens up the possibility of explaining dark energy—a mysterious form of energy thought to be responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe. However, to successfully realize this scenario, known as quintessential inflation, the researchers had to make two key adjustments. First, they normalized the two wings of the potential differently to bridge the vast energy scales of inflation and dark energy. Second, they allowed the quintessence field, the field responsible for dark energy, to be dissipative, consistent with the presence of a dissipative term in warm inflation.
The dissipative dynamics of the quintessence field were crucial for sustaining slow-roll inflation on the right wing of the potential. With these modifications, the researchers showed that the Witten-O’Raifeartaigh potential can give rise to a unified model of warm inflation on the left wing and transient dark energy on the right wing. This work provides a novel perspective on the early universe and its evolution, potentially offering a more cohesive understanding of cosmic inflation and dark energy.
While this research is primarily theoretical and cosmological, it could indirectly influence the energy sector by deepening our understanding of the fundamental forces and energies that govern the universe. This knowledge could inspire new ideas for energy generation and utilization, although any practical applications are likely to be long-term and speculative at this stage. The study was published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.