I describe a recently derived stochastic approach to inflaton dynamics which can address some serious problems associated with conventional inflationary theory. Using this theory I derive an exact solution to the stochastic dynamics for the case of a $\lambda\phi^4$ potential and use it to study the generated primordial density fluctuations. It is found that on both sub and super-horizon scales the theory predicts gaussian fluctuations to a very high accuracy along with a near scale-invariant spectrum. Of most interest is that the amplitude constraint is found to be satisfied for $\lambda\sim 10^{ -5}$ rather than $\lambda\sim 10^{ -14}$ of the conventional theory. This represents a dramatic easing of the fine-tuning constraints, a feature likely to generalize to a wide range of potentials.
Categories: gr-qc astro-ph hep-ph