English

A Spinodal Solution to Swampland Inflationary Constraints

High Energy Physics - Theory 2019-05-15 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

We show how the inclusion of non-perturbative, {\em dynamical} quantum effects on the evolution of the inflaton can allow for an inflationary phase that is both consistent with cosmological constraints {\em and} avoids the problems associated with the so-called swampland conditions. In particular, for concave potentials such as those preferred by the Planck data, spinodal instabilities associated with tachyonic masses for long wavelength modes induce a second round of inflation, which in essence decouples the tree-level potential from the inflationary phase. We illustrate these points using natural inflation as an example.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1811.06021,
  title  = {A Spinodal Solution to Swampland Inflationary Constraints},
  author = {R. Holman and B. Richard},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1811.06021},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

4 pages, 2 figures. v2: Final version accepted for publication in PRD. Changes: minor clarifications to the presentation