Probing early universe with a generalized action

Possibly, the most general action in the background of isotropic and homogeneous space-time has been considered to study the quantum evolution of the early universe, apart from a cosmo-logical constant. The hermiticity of the effective Hamiltonian operator in the presence of curvature squared terms suggests unitary time evolution of the quantum states, assuring conservation of probability. The oscillatory behaviour of the semi-classical wavefunction around a de-Sitter solution signals that the theory is classically allowed, and the universe enters an inflationary regime just after Planck's era. In view of a hierarchy of Hubble flow parameters, and using a redefined effective potential, the complicated classical field equations in the presence of several coupling parameters, reduce to standard general-relativistic equations with a single scalar field. As a result, inflation has been studied without considering any additional flow parameters. Inflationary parameters lie very much within the presently available Planck's data, and the model admits graceful exit from inflation. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.