Circumventing the eta problem in building an inflationary model in string theory

Journal Article · Thu Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.80.083518· OSTI ID:21325328

Easson, Damien A ^[1]; Gregory, Ruth ^[2]

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1. Department of Physics, and School of Earth and Space Exploration, and Beyond Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, 85287-1504 (United States)
2. Centre for Particle Theory, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Durham University, Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE (United Kingdom)

The eta problem is one of the most significant obstacles to building a successful inflationary model in string theory. Planck mass suppressed corrections to the inflaton potential generally lead to inflaton masses of order the Hubble scale and generate contributions of order unity to the {eta} slow-roll parameter rendering prolonged slow-roll inflation impossible. We demonstrate the severity of this problem in the context of brane antibrane inflation in a warped throat of a Calabi-Yau flux compactification with all phenomenologically dangerous moduli stabilized. Using numerical solutions we show that the eta problem can be avoided in scenarios where the inflaton is nonminimally coupled to gravity and has Dirac-Born-Infeld kinetic term. We show that the resulting cosmic microwave background observables such as measures of non-Gaussianites can, in principle, serve as a probe of scalar-gravity couplings.

• OSTI ID: 21325328
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 80; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
BORN-INFELD THEORY
BRANES
COMPACTIFICATION
CORRECTIONS
COUPLING
ETA MESONS
GRAVITATION
MASS
NUMERICAL SOLUTION
RELICT RADIATION
STRING MODELS
STRING THEORY