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Title: Poly-instanton inflation

Journal Article · · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Abdus Salam ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, Trieste 34014 (Italy)
  2. Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford, 1 Keble Road, Oxford, OX1 3NP (United Kingdom)
  3. Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX (United Kingdom)

We propose a new inflationary scenario in type IIB Calabi-Yau compactifications, where the inflaton is a Kähler modulus parameterising the volume of an internal four-cycle. The inflaton potential is generated via poly-instanton corrections to the superpotential which give rise to a naturally flat direction due to their double exponential suppression. Given that the volume mode is kept stable during inflation, all the inflaton-dependent higher dimensional operators are suppressed. Moreover, string loop effects can be shown to be negligible throughout all the inflationary dynamics for natural values of the underlying parameters. The model is characterised by a reheating temperature of the order T{sub rh} ≅ 10{sup 6} GeV which requires N{sub e} ≅ 54 e-foldings of inflation. All the inflationary observables are compatible with current observations since the spectral index is n{sub s} ≅ 0.96, while the tensor-to-scalar ratio is r ≅ 10{sup −5}. The volume of the Calabi-Yau is of order 10{sup 3} in string units, corresponding to an inflationary scale around 10{sup 15} GeV.

OSTI ID:
22279717
Journal Information:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2011, Issue 12; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1475-7516
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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