Non-Gaussianity constrains hybrid inflation

In hybrid inflationary models, inflation ends by a sudden instability associated with a steep ridge in the potential. Here we argue that this feature can generate a large contribution to the curvature perturbation on observable scales. This contribution is almost scale-invariant but highly non-Gaussian. The degree of non-Gaussianity can exceed current observational bounds, unless the inflationary scale is extremely low or the hybrid potential contains very large coupling constants. Non-linear effects on small scales may quench the non-Gaussian signal, and while we find no compelling evidence that this occurs, full lattice simulations are required to definitively address this issue. Note added: We now believe that nonlinear effects will invalidate the original computation in this paper essentially instantaneously after the short-wavelength modes reach the minimum of their potential. This means that the mechanism described in this paper will not lead to appreciatable curvature perturbations on long wavelengths, and no useful constraints on hybrid inflation will result. We have inserted a brief calculation on p2 of this manuscript to explain this fact, but have otherwise left the manuscript unchanged.