Jacopo Fumagali

Cosmic inflation represents the leading paradigm for understanding the physics of the very early Universe. Its success stems from the ability to coherently connect the primordial epoch with a variety of observations, offering a unique window into physical processes at otherwise inaccessible energy scales. At short scales (below 1 Mpc), the inflationary dynamics remain largely unconstrained. This explicitly allows for scenarios where scalar fluctuations are significantly amplified compared to the scales probed by the Cosmic Microwave Background, potentially leading to the formation of primordial black holes and a detectable stochastic gravitational-wave background. This latter constitutes a leading target for future gravitational wave observatories such as the recently adopted LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission. Consequently, non-standard dynamics at small scales have become a primary focus of the community, pushing us into uncharted territory in both theory and data analysis, where traditional techniques and results cannot be easily extended. I will outline how my studies on small-scale features in the gravitational-wave background, reconstruction pipelines for primordial signals, and loop corrections in inflation puts me in a privileged position to take on these challenges, which lie at the core of my future research quest.