DOI: 10.1007/jhep11(2026)024 ISSN: 1029-8479
Gravitational open effective field theory of inflation
Perseas Christodoulidis, Jinn-Ouk Gong
A
bstract
We construct a gravitational open extension of the effective field theory of inflation in the Schwinger-Keldysh framework. While physical symmetries allow many open operators in the Schwinger-Keldysh action, most of them overconstrain the equations of motion, yielding inconsistent dynamics. We identify a minimal open operator compatible with propagating scalar and tensor modes and build a local gravitational action, recovering known dissipative models of inflation.