Generic Scalar Potentials for Inflation in Supergravity with a Single Chiral Superfield

Understand

We propose a large class of supergravity models in terms of a single chiral matter superfield, leading to (almost) arbitrary single-field inflationary scalar potentials similar to the F-term in rigid supersymmetry.

• Those scalar potentials are positively semi-definite (in our approximation), and can preserve supersymmetry at the end of inflation.
• The only scalar superpartner of inflaton is stabilized by a higher-dimensional term in the Kahler potential.
• We argue that couplings of the inflaton to other sectors of the particle spectrum do not affect the inflationary dynamics, and briefly discuss reheating of the universe by the inflaton decays.