Large non-Gaussianities in the effective field theory approach to single-field inflation: The bispectrum

The methods of effective field theory are used to study generic theories of inflation with a single inflaton field and to perform a general analysis of the associated nonGaussianities. We investigate the amplitudes and shapes of the various generic three-point correlators, the bispectra, which may be generated by different classes of single-field inflationary models. Besides the well-known results for the DBI-like models and the ghost inflationary theories, we point out that curvature-related interactions may give rise to large non-Gaussianities in the form of bispectra characterized by a fiat shape which, quite interestingly, is independently produced by several interaction terms. In a subsequent work, we will perform a similar general analysis for the non-Gaussianities generated by the generic four-point correlator, the trispectrum. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd and SISSA.