On the three primordial numbers

Cosmological observations have provided us with the measurement of just three numbers that characterize the very early universe: 1 - n(s), N and ln Delta(2)(R). Although each of the three numbers individually carries limited information about the physics of inflation, one may hope to extract non-trivial information from relations among them. Invoking minimality, namely the absence of ad hoc large numbers, we find two viable and mutually exclusive inflationary scenarios. The first is the well-known inverse relation between 1 - n(s) and N. The second implies a new relation between 1 - n(s) and ln Delta(2)(R), which might provide us with a handle on the beginning of inflation and predicts the intriguing lower bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r > 0.006 (95% CL).