Inflation as an attractor in scalar cosmology

Abstract

We study an inflation mechanism based on attractor properties in cosmological evolutions of a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime based on the Einstein-scalar field theory. We find a new way to get the Hamilton-Jacobi equation solving the field equations. The equation relates a solution `generating function' with the scalar potential. We analyze its stability and find a later time attractor which describes a Universe approaching to an eternal-de Sitter inflation driven by the potential energy, $V_0>0$. The attractor exists when the potential is regular and does not have a linear and quadratic terms of the field. When the potential has a mass term, the attractor exists if the scalar field is in a symmetric phase and is weakly coupled, $\lambda<9V_0/16$. We also find that the attractor property is intact under small modifications of the potential. If the scalar field has a positive mass-squared or is strongly coupled, there exists a quasi-attractor. However, the quasi-attractor property disappears if the potential is modified. On the whole, the appearance of the eternal inflation is not rare in scalar cosmology in the presence of an attractor.