Inflation with vector fields revisited: non-Gaussianities

Abstract

We revisit the resulting bispectrum of inflation with kinetic-coupled vector fields by organizing the dynamics in terms of $h$, which measures the vector kinetic contribution relative to that of the scalar field. We evaluate the bispectrum in the strong-vector regime and derive a low-energy effective field theory (EFT) for the large-$h$ regime. For $h\gg1$, the entropic perturbation becomes heavy and can be integrated out; the remaining curvature mode has an imaginary sound speed and undergoes transient growth before horizon crossing. In contrast to $h\ll1$ regime, where transfer from the vector sector persists outside the horizon and produces a local-type contribution enhanced as $h^2N_K^3$, we find that in addition to the known flattened-enhanced signals scaling as $h^3$, a flattened-enhanced signal scaling as $h^2$ and a pronounced local projection scaling as $h$ are present. Their competition yields a local-dominated signal for intermediate $h$ and a flattened-dominated signal at larger $h$. The bispectrum therefore distinguishes vector-supported inflationary dynamics even for an exactly isotropic background.