No Arabic abstract
We study string inspired two-field models of large-field inflation based on axion monodromy in the presence of an interacting heavier modulus. This class of models has enough structure to approximate at least part of the backreaction effects known in full string theory, such as kinetic mixing with the axion, and flattening of the scalar potential. Yet, it is simple enough to fully describe the structure of higher-point curvature perturbation interactions driven by the adjusting modulus backreaction dynamics. We find that the presence of the heavy modulus can be described via two equivalent effective field theories, both of which can incorporate reductions of the speed of sound. Hence, the presence of heavier moduli in axion monodromy inflation constructions will necessarily generate some amount of non-Gaussianity accompanied by changes to $n_s$ and $r$ beyond what results from just from the well known adiabatic flattening backreaction.
We study the effects of particle production on the evolution of the inflaton field in an axion monodromy model with the goal of discovering in which situations the resulting dynamics will be consistent with the {it swampland constraints}. In the presence of a modulated potential the evolving background field (solution of the inflaton homogeneous in space) induces the production of long wavelength inflaton fluctuation modes. However, this either has a negligible effect on the inflaton dynamics (if the field spacing between local minima of the modulated potential is large), or else it traps the inflaton in a local minimum and leads to a graceful exit problem. On the other hand, the production of moduli fields at enhanced symmetry points can lead to a realization of {it trapped inflation} consistent with the swampland constraints, as long as the coupling between the inflaton and the moduli fields is sufficiently large.
We analyze the quantum-corrected moduli space of D7-brane position moduli with special emphasis on inflationary model building. D7-brane deformation moduli are key players in two recently proposed inflationary scenarios: The first, D7-brane chaotic inflation, is a variant of axion monodromy inflation which allows for an effective 4d supergravity description. The second, fluxbrane inflation, is a stringy version of D-term hybrid inflation. Both proposals rely on the fact that D7-brane coordinates enjoy a shift-symmetric Kahler potential at large complex structure of the Calabi-Yau threefold, making them naturally lighter than other fields. This shift symmetry is inherited from the mirror-dual Type IIA Wilson line on a D6-brane at large volume. The inflaton mass can be provided by a tree-level term in the flux superpotential. It induces a monodromy and, if tuned to a sufficiently small value, can give rise to a large-field model of inflation. Alternatively, by a sensible flux choice one can completely avoid a tree-level mass term, in which case the inflaton potential is induced via loop corrections. The positive vacuum energy can then be provided by a D-term, leading to a small-field model of hybrid natural inflation. In the present paper, we continue to develop a detailed understanding of the D7-brane moduli space focusing among others on shift-symmetry-preserving flux choices, flux-induced superpotential in Type IIB/F-theory language, and loop corrections. While the inflationary applications represent our main physics motivation, we expect that some of our findings will be useful for other phenomenological issues involving 7-branes in Type IIB/F-theory constructions.
We demonstrate that asymmetric reheating arises in a large ensemble of string compactifications with many axions and gauged dark sectors. This phenomenon may help avoid numerous cosmological problems that may arise if the sectors were reheated democratically. Distributions of couplings are presented for two classes of axion reheatons, both of which exhibit very small couplings to most of the gauge sectors. In one class, ratios of reheating couplings and also preferred gauge groups are frequently determined by local regions in the string geometry.
We propose a landscape of many axions, where the axion potential receives various contributions from shift symmetry breaking effects. We show that the existence of the axion with a super-Planckian decay constant is very common in the axion landscape for a wide range of numbers of axions and shift symmetry breaking terms, because of the accidental alignment of axions. The effective inflation model is either natural or multi-natural inflation in the axion landscape, depending on the number of axions and the shift symmetry breaking terms. The tension between BICEP2 and Planck could be due to small modulations to the inflaton potential or steepening of the potential along the heavy axions after the tunneling. The total duration of the slow-roll inflation our universe experienced is not significantly larger than $60$ if the typical height of the axion potentials is of order $(10^{16-17}{rm ,GeV})^4$.
In this paper, we study large $c$ Virasoro blocks by using the Zamolodchikov monodromy method beyond its known limits. We give an analytic proof of our recent conjectur, which implied that the asymptotics of the large $c$ conformal blocks can be expressed in very simple forms, even if outside its known limits, namely the semiclassical limit or the heavy-light limit. In particular, we analytically discuss the fact that the asymptotic behavior of large $c$ conformal blocks drastically changes when the dimensions of external primary states reach the value $frac{c}{32}$, which is conjectured by our numerical studies. The results presented in this work imply that the general solutions to the Zamolodchikov recursion relation are given by Cardy-like formula, which is an important conclusion that can be numerically drawn from our recent works. Mathematical derivations and analytical results imply that, in the bulk, the collision behavior between two heavy particles may undergo a remarkable transition associated with their masses.