Higgs mechanism and cosmological constant in N = 1 supergravity with inflaton in a vector multiplet

The N = 1 supergravity models of cosmological inflation with an inflaton belonging to a massive vector multiplet and spontaneous SUSY breaking after inflation are reformulated as the supersymmetric U(1) gauge theories of a massless vector superfield interacting with the Higgs and Polonyi chiral superfields, all coupled to supergravity. The U(1) gauge sector is identified with the U(1) gauge fields of the super-GUT coupled to supergravity, whose gauge group has a U(1) factor. A positive cosmological constant (dark energy) is included. The scalar potential is calculated, and its de Sitter vacuum solution is found to be stable. (orig.)