Quantum Gravity Corrections Could Rescue Once-Ruled-Out Inflation Models,

A new theoretical paper argues that quantum-gravity corrections from loop quantum cosmology could revive inflation models that were increasingly squeezed by recent observations. The push began when joint analyses of Atacama Cosmology Telescope DR6 data with Planck, DESI baryon acoustic oscillations, and BICEP/Keck shifted the scalar spectral index to n_s = 0.974 ± 0.003. That upward move placed models like Starobinsky inflation uncomfortably near the edge of the 95% confidence region. Physicists Farough Parvizi and Kayoomars Karami (University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj) tested fractional power-law inflaton potentials with exponents n = 1/3, 2/5, and 2/3 to see if loop effects bring predictions back into favor.