Highly suppressed tensor-to-scalar ratio from a modified Lennard-Jones inflationary potential
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arXiv
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866918330959396864 |
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| author | Stavros, Panagiotis G. Basilakos, Spyros Saridakis, Emmanuel N. |
| author_facet | Stavros, Panagiotis G. Basilakos, Spyros Saridakis, Emmanuel N. |
| contents | The increasingly stringent observational bounds on primordial gravitational waves strongly constrain inflationary model building, favoring scenarios that predict highly suppressed tensor perturbations. While many viable constructions rely on non-canonical kinetic terms, non-minimal couplings, or modifications of gravity, it remains an open question whether comparably small tensor amplitudes can emerge within a minimal, single-field framework driven solely by potential dynamics. In this work we propose a novel inflationary scenario based on a modified Lennard-Jones potential. Inspired by a well-known interaction potential in molecular physics, the proposed form naturally combines a smooth minimum with an extended flat plateau at large field values. This intrinsic structure supports slow-roll inflation and ensures a graceful exit without introducing additional degrees of freedom. We perform a detailed analysis of the inflationary dynamics and confront the model with current observational constraints. We find that the scalar spectral index is fully consistent with CMB data, while the tensor-to-scalar ratio is predicted to be extremely small, reaching values as low as $r\sim10^{-7}$. Finally, the running of the scalar spectral index is also found to be small, well withing the 1$σ$ recent observational bounds from Atacama Cosmology Telescope. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_09599 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Highly suppressed tensor-to-scalar ratio from a modified Lennard-Jones inflationary potential Stavros, Panagiotis G. Basilakos, Spyros Saridakis, Emmanuel N. Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory The increasingly stringent observational bounds on primordial gravitational waves strongly constrain inflationary model building, favoring scenarios that predict highly suppressed tensor perturbations. While many viable constructions rely on non-canonical kinetic terms, non-minimal couplings, or modifications of gravity, it remains an open question whether comparably small tensor amplitudes can emerge within a minimal, single-field framework driven solely by potential dynamics. In this work we propose a novel inflationary scenario based on a modified Lennard-Jones potential. Inspired by a well-known interaction potential in molecular physics, the proposed form naturally combines a smooth minimum with an extended flat plateau at large field values. This intrinsic structure supports slow-roll inflation and ensures a graceful exit without introducing additional degrees of freedom. We perform a detailed analysis of the inflationary dynamics and confront the model with current observational constraints. We find that the scalar spectral index is fully consistent with CMB data, while the tensor-to-scalar ratio is predicted to be extremely small, reaching values as low as $r\sim10^{-7}$. Finally, the running of the scalar spectral index is also found to be small, well withing the 1$σ$ recent observational bounds from Atacama Cosmology Telescope. |
| title | Highly suppressed tensor-to-scalar ratio from a modified Lennard-Jones inflationary potential |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09599 |