Flattening the Inflaton's Potential with Quantum Corrections II

Abstract

In a previous paper I showed that a classical scalar potential with $V''/V \sim 1$ can be sufficiently flattened by quantum corrections to give rise to slow-roll inflation. In this paper I give a hybrid inflation implementation of that idea which can naturally produce a spectral index in the observationally viable range even for $V^{1/4} \sim 10^{10}$ to $10^{11}$ GeV. Although any observationally viable spectral index can be obtained, the model does predict a distinctive spectral shape.