Radiative Inflation and Dark Energy RIDEs Again after BICEP2

Abstract

Following the ground-breaking measurement of the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r = 0.20^{+0.07}_{- 0.05}$ by the BICEP2 collaboration, we perform a statistical analysis of a model that combines Radiative Inflation with Dark Energy (RIDE) based on the $M^2 |\Phi|^2 \ln \left(|\Phi|^2/\Lambda^2 \right)$ potential and compare its predictions to those based on the traditional chaotic inflation $M^2|\Phi|^2$ potential. We find a best-fit value in the RIDE model of $r=0.18$ as compared to $r=0.17$ in the chaotic model, with the spectral index being $n_S=0.96$ in both models.