Reanalyzing the upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rTrT in a quartic potential inflationary model

We study the polynomial chaotic inflation model with a single scalar field in a double well quartic potential which has recently been shown to be consistent with Planck data. In particular, we study the effects of lifting the degeneracy between the two vacua on the inflationary observables, i.e., spectral index nsns and tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rTrT. We find that removing the degeneracy allows the model to satisfy the upper limit constraints on rTrT from Planck data, provided the field starts near the local maximum. We also calculate the scalar power spectrum and non-Gaussianity parameter fNLfNL for the primordial scalar perturbations in this model.