Kinetic Gauge Friction in Natural Inflation

We study an extension of the natural inflation model comprising a non-Abelian gauge sector coupled to the axion-inflaton kinetic term. We show how such non-minimal coupling serves as a source of friction for the rolling inflaton granting sixty or more $e$-folds of accelerated expansion for sub-Planckian values of the axion decay constant. The analysis of perturbations reveals a negative sound speed, thus signaling an instability. Implementing a Chern-Simons-type coupling between the inflaton and gauge sectors cures the instability by delivering a positive speed. We perform a numerical study of scalar and tensor perturbations for a fiducial set of parameters finding that the corresponding observables are compatible with current CMB bounds.