Related papers: Axion monodromy inflation with sinusoidal correcti…
In models of natural inflation, the inflaton is an axion-like particle. Unfortunately, axion potentials in UV-complete theories appear to be too steep to drive inflation. We show that, even for a steep potential, natural inflation can occur…
Axions play a central role in many realizations of large field models of inflation and in recent alternative mechanisms for generating primordial tensor modes in small field models. If these axions couple to gauge fields, the coupling…
We present a new approximation scheme that allows us to increase the accuracy of analytical predictions of the power spectra of inflationary perturbations for two specific classes of inflationary models. Among these models are chaotic…
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…
We construct a two-stage inflationary model which can accommodate early inflation at a scale $\Lambda_1$ as well as a second stage of inflation at $\Lambda_2$ with a single scalar field $\phi$. We use a symmetric potential, valid in a…
Amongst the multitude of inflationary models currently available, models that lead to features in the primordial scalar spectrum are drawing increasing attention, since certain features have been found to provide a better fit to the CMB…
We propose a natural inflation model driven by an imaginary or axionic component of a K\"ahler modulus in string-inspired supergravity. The shift symmetry of the axion is gauged under an anomalous $U(1)_X$ symmetry, which leads to a…
The previous proposal (by two of us) of chain inflation with the QCD axion is shown to fail. The proposal involved a series of fast tunneling events, yet here it is shown that tunneling is too slow. We calculate the bubble nucleation rates…
We investigate a standard minimally-coupled scalar-field inflationary scenario, which is based on a new potential, with suitably generalized plateau features, that leads to extra small tensor-to-scalar ratios. In particular, we consider a…
We present a simple effective field theory formulation of a general family of single field flux monodromy models for which strong coupling effects at large field values can flatten the potential and activate operators with higher powers of…
We reexamine the recently proposed "little inflation" scenario that allows for a strong first order phase-transition of QCD at non-negligible baryon number in the early universe and its possible observable consequences. The scenario is…
We study inflationary potentials in the framework of superstring theories. Successful inflation may occur due to chiral fields, but only after the dilaton and moduli are stabilized. This is achieved by demanding an S-duality invariant…
We propose a new type of axion inflation with complex structure moduli in the framework of type IIB superstring theory compactified on Calabi-Yau manifold. The inflaton is identified as the axion for the complex structure moduli whose…
We study a single field axion inflation model in the presence of an SU(2) gauge field with a small vev. In order to make the analysis as model-independent as possible, we consider an arbitrary potential for the axion that is able to support…
The QCD axion in the pre-inflation scenario faces a stringent isocurvature constraint, which requires a relatively low Hubble scale during inflation. If the axion was heavier than the Hubble scale during inflation, its isocurvature is…
In this paper, we study two inflationary models, namely, monomial inflation and the simplest $\alpha$-attractor inflation, within extra-dimensional frameworks. We consider three extra-dimensional setups: Dark Dimension, which embeds one…
This article presents a possible inflation scenario as a consequence of non-minimal gravitational couplings in the Conformal Standard Model. The model consists, in comparison to the SM, of additional right-chiral neutrinos and complex…
We revisit the cosmological aspects of axion models. In the high-scale inflation scenario, the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is likely to be restored during/after inflation. If the curvature of the PQ scalar potential at the origin is smaller…
We propose a model for inflation consisting of an axionic scalar field coupled to a set of three non-Abelian gauge fields. Our model's novel requirement is that the gauge fields begin inflation with a rotationally invariant vacuum…
We propose a mechanism for the natural inflation with and without modulation in the framework of type IIB string theory on toroidal orientifold or orbifold. We explicitly construct the stabilization potential of complex structure, dilaton…