Related papers: F-term Axion Monodromy Inflation
We study the possibility of extended inflation in the effective theory of gravity from strings compactified to four dimensions and find that it strongly depends on the mechanism of supersymmetry breaking. We consider a general class of…
An inflationary scenario is expected to be embedded into an ultraviolet (UV) complete theory such as string theory. The effect of UV complete theories may appear as nontrivial kinetic terms in the low energy effective field theory, which…
We present a model for quintessential inflation using a string modulus for the inflaton - quintessence field. The scalar potential of our model is based on generic non-perturbative potentials arising in flux compactifications. We assume an…
We explore the possibility of obtaining inflation in weakly coupled heterotic string theory, where the model dependent axions are responsible for driving inflation. This model can be considered as a certain extrapolation of…
We consider inflation driven near a saddle point in a higher dimensional field space, which is the most likely type of slow roll inflation on the string theoretical landscape; anthropic arguments need to be invoked in order to find a…
We study the cosmological evolution of the volume moduli in a class of recently proposed Inflationary Universe models arising out of Type IIB string theory, where a number of the moduli fields have been stabilised through flux…
Oscillons are massive, long-lived, localized excitations of a scalar field. We show that in a large class of well-motivated single-field models, inflation is followed by self-resonance, leading to copious oscillon generation and a lengthy…
We analyze in detail the background cosmological evolution of a scalar field coupled to a massless abelian gauge field through an axial term $\frac{\phi}{f_\gamma} F \tilde{F}$, such as in the case of an axion. Gauge fields in this case are…
We present a toy model of an axion gauge field inflation scenario that yields viable density and gravitational wave spectra. The scenario consists of an axionic inflaton in a steep potential that is effectively flattened by a coupling to a…
We review conceptual aspects of inflationary scenarios able to produce primordial black holes, by amplifying the size of curvature fluctuations to the level required for triggering black hole formation. We identify general mechanisms to do…
The axion monodromy model involves a canonical scalar field that is governed by a linear potential with superimposed modulations. The modulations in the potential are responsible for a resonant behavior which gives rise to persisting…
This is a short review of string cosmology. We wish to connect string-scale physics as closely as possible to observables accessible to current or near-future experiments. Our possible best hope to do so is a description of inflation in…
In this talk, I review briefly a scenario for the evolution of a string-inspired cosmological model, in which condensates of primordial gravitational waves (GW), formed at the very early eras after the Big Bang, are considered responsible…
Usual inflation is realized with a slow rolling scalar field minimally coupled to gravity. In contrast, we consider dynamics of a scalar with a flat effective potential, conformally coupled to gravity. Surprisingly, it contains an attractor…
An inflationary stage dominated by a $D$-term avoids the slow-roll problem of inflation in supergravity and may emerge in theories with a non-anomalous or anomalous U(1) gauge symmetry. The most intriguing and commonly invoked possibility…
We present a new class of two-field inflationary attractor models, known as `shift-symmetric orbital inflation', whose behaviour is strongly multi-field but whose predictions are remarkably close to those of single-field inflation. In these…
Based on a previously derived superstring model possessing a cosmological sector that mimics Starobinsky inflation, we analyze several questions addressed in the recent literature: the generation of an effective $R^2$-term, the stability of…
The BICEP2 observations, if confirmed, point to a high scale of inflation and large field excursions during the inflationary era. Non-compact string moduli spaces are a suggestive setting for these phenomena. While unlikely to be described…
The electric Weak Gravity Conjecture demands that axions with large decay constant $f$ couple to light instantons. The resulting large instantonic corrections pose problems for natural inflation. We explore an alternative argument based on…
We discuss a general bound on the possibility to realise inflation in any minimal supergravity with F-terms. The derivation crucially depends on the sGoldstini, the scalar field directions that are singled out by spontaneous supersymmetry…