The Curvaton Hypothesis and the eta-problem of Quintessential Inflation,   with and without Branes
  It is argued why, contrary to expectations, steep brane-inflation cannot really help in overcoming the eta-problem of quintessential inflation model-building. In contrast it is shown that the problem is substantially ameliorated under the curvaton hypothesis. This is quantified by considering possible modular quintessential inflationary models in the context of both standard and brane cosmology. 
Konstantinos Dimopoulos (Lancaster University/University of Oxford)