A viable logarithmic f(R) model for inflation

Understand

Inflation in the framework of $f(R)$ modified gravity is revisited.

• We study the conditions that $f(R)$ should satisfy in order to lead to a viable inflationary model in the original form and in the Einstein frame.
• Based on these criteria we propose a new logarithmic model as a potential candidate for $f(R)$ theories aiming to describe inflation consistent with observations from \textit{Planck} satellite (2015).
• The model predicts scalar spectral index $0.9615<n_s<0.9693$ in agreement with observation and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ of order $10^{-3}$.