Single Field Inflation models allowed and ruled out by the three years WMAP data

Abstract

We study the single field slow-roll inflation models that better fit the available CMB and LSS data including the three years WMAP data: new inflation and hybrid inflation. We study them as effective field theories in the Ginsburg-Landau context: a trinomial potential turns out to be a simple and well motivated model. The compute the spectral index n_s of the adiabatic fluctuations, the ratio r of tensor to scalar fluctuations and the running index d n_s/dln k, derive explicit formulae and provide relevant plots. In new inflation, and for the three years WMAP central value n_s = 0.95, we predict 0.03 1. Hybrid inflation for mu_0^2>Lambda_0 M_{Pl}^2/192 can fullfill all the present CMB+LSS data. Even if chaotic inflation predicts n_s values compatible with the data, chaotic inflation is disfavoured since it predicts a too high value for the ratio r=0.27. The model which best fits the current data and which best prepares the way to the expected data r < 0.1, is the trinomial potential with negative mass term: new inflation.