Gravity waves and linear inflation from axion monodromy

Journal Article · Sun Aug 15 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.82.046003· OSTI ID:21421021

McAllister, Liam ^[1]; Silverstein, Eva; Westphal, Alexander ^[2]

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1. LEPP and Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca New York 14853 (United States)
2. SLAC and Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford California 94305 (United States)

Wrapped branes in string compactifications introduce a monodromy that extends the field range of individual closed-string axions to beyond the Planck scale. Furthermore, approximate shift symmetries of the system naturally control corrections to the axion potential. This suggests a general mechanism for chaotic inflation driven by monodromy-extended closed-string axions. We systematically analyze this possibility and show that the mechanism is compatible with moduli stabilization and can be realized in many types of compactifications, including warped Calabi-Yau manifolds and more general Ricci-curved spaces. In this broad class of models, the potential is linear in the canonical inflaton field, predicting a tensor to scalar ratio r{approx_equal}0.07 accessible to upcoming cosmic microwave background observations.

• OSTI ID: 21421021
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 82, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.82.046003; (c) 2010 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
APPROXIMATIONS
AXIONS
BRANES
CHAOS THEORY
COMPACTIFICATION
CORRECTIONS
GRAVITY WAVES
RELICT RADIATION
RICCI TENSOR
STABILIZATION
SYMMETRY
BOSONS
CALCULATION METHODS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
GOLDSTONE BOSONS
MATHEMATICS
MICROWAVE RADIATION
POSTULATED PARTICLES
RADIATIONS
TENSORS