Speaker: Jonathan Frazer
The observable consequences of the simplest models of inflation with only one canonical field are quite well understood but basic considerations of effective field theory as well as our current understanding of string theory, strongly motivate inflationary models with multiple active fields. This class of models, often referred to as “multifield models” allows for much richer inflationary behaviour and consequently making a prediction for observables is more complex. In this talk I will discuss computing observables in models of this kind in two parts. In part 1 I will describe the transport method, a computationally efficient method of computing the statistics of the primordial curvature perturbation. In part 2 I will talk a little bit about my current work on the problem of initial conditions, an issue which must be addressed if we are to confront multifield models with data from Planck.