Related papers: Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inf…
We present a scenario where brane inflation arises more generically. We start with D3 and anti-D3-branes at the infrared ends of two different throats. This setup is a natural consequence of the assumption that in the beginning we have a…
Inflation is part of the Standard Model of the Universe supported by CMB and large scale structure LSS datasets. This review presents new developments of inflation in three main chapters. (I): The effective theory of inflation a la…
We show that inflation in type IIB string theory driven by the volume modulus can be realized in the context of the racetrack-based Kallosh-Linde model (KL) of moduli stabilization. Inflation here arises through the volume modulus…
We provide a pedagogical overview of inflation in string theory. Our theme is the sensitivity of inflation to Planck-scale physics, which we argue provides both the primary motivation and the central theoretical challenge for the subject.…
In this PhD thesis, we investigate generic features of inflation which are strictly related to fundamental aspects of UV-physics scenarios, such as string theory or supergravity. After a short introduction to standard and inflationary…
The discovery of a large tensor-to-scalar ratio by the BICEP2 experiment points to large field excursions during inflation. One framework that predicts large $r$ is monodromy inflation. While discussed mainly in the context of string…
Erickcek, Kamionkowski and Carroll proposed in 2008 that the dipole modulation of the CMB could be due to a very large scale perturbation of the field $\phi$ causing the primordial curvature perturbation. We repeat their calculation using…
We consider a cosmological scenario within the KKLT framework for moduli stabilization in string theory. The universal open string tachyon of decaying non-BPS D-brane configurations is proposed to drive eternal topological inflation.…
High-scale string inflationary models are in well-known tension with low-energy supersymmetry. A promising solution involves models where the inflaton is the volume of the extra dimensions so that the gravitino mass relaxes from large…
We demonstrate that there exists an inflationary solution on the positive tension brane in the Randall-Sundrum scenario. Inflation is driven by a slow-rolling scalar field on the brane and is achieved within the perturbative limit of the…
The chromo-natural inflation (CNI) scenario predicts a potentially detectable chiral gravitational wave signal, generated by a Chern-Simons coupling between a rolling scalar axion field and an SU(2) gauge field with an isotropy-preserving…
The recent progress in embedding inflation in string theory has made it clear that the problem of moduli stabilization cannot be ignored in this context. In many models a special role is played by the volume modulus, which is modified in…
Models of large-field inflation based on axion-like fields with shift symmetries can be simple and natural, and make a promising prediction of detectable primordial gravitational waves. The Weak Gravity Conjecture is known to constrain the…
We consider the cosmological role of the scalar fields generated by the compactification of 11-dimensional Einstein gravity on a 7D elliptic twisted torus, which has the attractive features of giving rise to a positive semi-definite…
Models of inflation based on axions, which owe their popularity to the robustness against UV corrections, have also a very distinct class of signatures. The relevant interactions of the axion are a non-perturbative oscillating contribution…
An important unsolved problem that affects practically all attempts to connect string theory to cosmology and phenomenology is how to distinguish effective field theories belonging to the string landscape from those that are not consistent…
We study an effective four-dimensional theory with an action with two scalar fields minimally coupled to gravity, and with a matter action which couples to the two scalar fields via an overall field-dependent coefficient in the action. Such…
We embed natural inflation in an explict string theory model and derive observables in cosmology. We achieve this by compactifying the type IIB string on a Calabi-Yau orientifold, stabilizing moduli via the Large Volume Scenario, and…
Cosmology motivated by string theory has been studied extensively in the recent literature. String theory is promising because it has interesting features such as unifying gravity, electromagnetic, weak and strong nuclear forces. However,…
Using DBI inflation as an example, we demonstrate that the detailed geometry of warped compactification can leave an imprint on the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We compute CMB observables for DBI inflation in a generic class of warped…