On Legacy of Starobinsky Inflation

Abstract: Alexei Alexandrovich Starobinsky was one of the greatest cosmologists of all times, who made fundamental contributions to gravitational theory and cosmology based on geometrical ideas in physics, in the spirit of Einstein. One of his big achievements is the famous Starobinsky model of cosmological inflation in the early universe, proposed in 1979-1980. In this memorial paper, the Starobinsky inflation model is systematically reviewed from the modern perspective. Its deformation to include production of primordial black holes is proposed, and possible quantum corrections in the context of superstring theory and the Swampland Program are discussed. Starobinsky inflation also leads to the universal reheating mechanism for particle production after inflation.