Hybrid Quasi-Single Field Inflation

Abstract

The decay of massive particles during inflation generates characteristic signals in the squeezed limit of the primordial bispectrum. These signals are in particular distinctive in the regime of the quasi-single field inflation, where particles are oscillating with masses comparable to the Hubble scale. We apply the investigation to a class of scalar particles that experience a so-called waterfall phase transition in the isocurvature direction driven by the symmetry-breaking mechanism based on the hybrid inflation scenario. With a time-varying mass, a novel shape of oscillatory bispectrum is presented as the signature of a waterfall phase transition during inflation.