Exploring Two-Field Inflation in the Wess-Zumino Model

Understand

We explore inflation via the effective potential of the minimal Wess-Zumino model, considering both the real and imaginary components of the complex field.

• Using transport techniques, we calculate the full allowed range of $n_s$, $r$ and $f_{\rm NL}$ for different choices of the single free parameter, $v$, and present the probability distribution of these signatures given a simple choice for the prior distribution of initial conditions.
• Our work provides a case study of multi-field inflation in a simple but realistic setting, with important lessons that are likely to apply more generally.
• For example, we find that there are initial conditions consistent with observations of $n_s$ and $r$ for values of $v$ that would be excluded if only evolutions in the real field direction were to be considered, and that these may yield enhanced values of $f_{\rm NL}$.