Generalized scalar field potentials and inflation.

We investigate the range of inflationary universe models driven by scalar fields possessing a general interaction potential of the form V (φ) = V0φ n exp(−λφm). Power-law, de Sitter and intermediate inflationary universes emerge as special cases together with several new varieties of inflation. Analysing the behaviour of these models at the extrema of φ we derive sufficient constraints on the m n parameter space such that inflation may occur as both an early and late-time phenomenon. We also compute the scalar and tensor perturbations produced in the model and compare these results with recent observations.