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We investigate the parameter space of hybrid inflation models where inflation terminates via a first-order phase transition causing nucleation of bubbles. Such models experience a tension from the need to ensure nearly scale invariant…
We perform a general algebraic analysis on the possibility of realising slow-roll inflation in the moduli sector of string models. This problem turns out to be very closely related to the characterisation of models admitting metastable…
Non-supersymmetric brane world scenarios in string theory display perturbative instabilities that usually involve run-away potentials for scalar moduli fields. We investigate in the framework of intersecting brane worlds whether the leading…
Theories with elementary scalar degrees of freedom seem nowadays required for simple descriptions of the Standard Model and of the Early Universe. It is then natural to embed theories of inflation in supergravity, also in view of their…
We investigate, in a model-independent way, the conditions required to obtain a satisfactory model of extended inflation in which inflation is brought to an end by a first-order phase transition. The constraints are that the correct present…
Quintessential inflation is studied using a string modulus as the inflaton - quintessence field. The modulus begins its evolution at the steep part of its scalar potential, which is due to non-perturbative effects (e.g. gaugino…
We propose the generic no-scale inflation inspired from string theory compactifications. We consider the K\"ahler potentials with an inflaton field $\varphi$, as well as one, two, and three K\"ahler moduli. Also, we consider the…
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…
We present an explicit embedding of axionic N-flation in type IIB string compactifications where most of the Kahler moduli are stabilised by perturbative effects, and so are hierarchically heavier than the corresponding N >> 1 axions whose…
We construct a model of inflation in string theory after carefully taking into account moduli stabilization. The setting is a warped compactification of Type IIB string theory in the presence of D3 and anti-D3-branes. The inflaton is the…
I study two-stage hybrid inflation driven by moduli fields, corresponding to flat directions of supersymmetry, lifted by supergravity corrections. The first stage corresponds to a period of either fast-roll or `locked' inflation, induced by…
We prove that all inflationary models, including those with dark energy after the end of inflation, can be embedded in minimal supergravity with a single chiral superfield. Moreover, the amount of supersymmetry breaking is independently…
In this paper we present a two-field inflation model, which distinguishes itself with a non-canonical kinetic lagrangian and comes from the large volume approach to the moduli stabilization in flux compactification of type IIB superstring…
We show that simple strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theories with quantum moduli spaces can naturally lead to hybrid inflation. These theories contain no input dimensionful or small parameters. The effective superpotential is linear…
We present an overview of inflationary models derived from string theory focusing mostly on closed string moduli as inflatons. After a detailed discussion of the eta-problem and different approaches to address it, we describe possible ways…
Scalar field models of inflation based on a large nonminimal coupling to gravity xi, in particular, Higgs inflation, may violate unitarity at an energy scale ~ M_p / xi << M_p. In this case the model is incomplete at energy scales relevant…
We consider an initial condition problem in a nearly quadratic chaotic inflation model in supergravity. We introduce shift symmetry breaking not only in the superpotential but also in the Kahler potential. In this model the inflaton…
We demonstrate how to realize within supergravity a novel chaotic-type inflationary scenario driven by the radial parts of a conjugate pair of Higgs superfields causing the spontaneous breaking of a grand unified gauge symmetry at a scale…
We show that inflation can naturally occur at a finite temperature T>H that is sustained by dissipative effects, when the inflaton field corresponds to a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of a broken gauge symmetry. Similarly to "Little Higgs"…
We propose a model for cosmic inflation which is based on an effective description of strongly interacting, nonsupersymmetric matter within the framework of dynamical abelian projection and centerization. The underlying gauge symmetry is…