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Title: Phases of inflation

Journal Article · · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
 [1];  [2]
  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (CSIC), Madrid (Spain). Inst. de Fisica Teorica

Motivated by the 4d effective field theories for closed string axions in Type II string compactifications with D-branes, we consider chiral gauge theories coupled to multiple axions. We discuss how well-known non-perturbative dynamical phenomena, such as gauge instantons, fermion confinement and Nambu-Jona-Lasinio interactions, give rise to non-trivial vacuum configurations in the IR. The fluctuations about the IR vacuum are captured by some remaining closed string axions and infladrons (scalar chiral condensate excitations), which acquire dynamical masses. By employing the full power of the effective field theory, we investigate the applicability of these IR theories as inflationary models (natural, monodromy, Starobinsky) and connect different types of inflationary scenarios to different phases of the non-Abelian gauge theory or the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio four-fermion couplings. The back-reaction of the infladrons flattens the axion potential in natural-like inflationary models, such that the tension with current CMB data with respect to the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio can be partially alleviated.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0017647
OSTI ID:
1483399
Journal Information:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Vol. 2018, Issue 10; ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer BerlinCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 5 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (3)

Super-Planckian axions from near-conformality text January 2019
Super-Planckian axions from near-conformality journal November 2019
Gauge and gravitational instantons: From 3-forms and fermions to Weak Gravity and flat axion potentials text January 2019

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