Flows into inflation: An effective field theory approach
  We analyze the flow into inflation for generic "single-clock" systems, by
combining an effective field theory approach with a dynamical-systems analysis.
In this approach, we construct an expansion for the potential-like term in the
effective action as a function of time, rather than specifying a particular
functional dependence on a scalar field. We may then identify fixed points in
the effective phase space for such systems, order-by-order, as various
constraints are placed on the $M$th time derivative of the potential-like
function. For relatively simple systems, we find significant probability for
the background spacetime to flow into an inflationary state, and for inflation
to persist for at least 60 efolds. Moreover, for systems that are compatible
with single-scalar-field realizations, we find a single, universal functional
form for the effective potential, $V (\phi)$, which is similar to the
well-studied potential for power-law inflation. We discuss the compatibility of
such dynamical systems with observational constraints.
