Related papers: On Axionic Field Ranges, Loopholes and the Weak Gr…
We propose a generalisation of the Weak Gravity Conjecture in the presence of scalar fields. The proposal is guided by properties of extremal black holes in ${\cal N}=2$ supergravity, but can be understood more generally in terms of…
Soft limits of inflationary correlation functions are both observationally relevant and theoretically robust. Various theorems can be proven about them that are insensitive to detailed model-building assumptions. In this paper, we re-derive…
We explore the consequences of a detection of primordial tensor fluctuations for general single-field models of inflation. Using the effective theory of inflation, we propose a generalization of the Lyth bound. Our bound applies to all…
The de Sitter conjecture yields a severe bound on possible vacua for a consistent quantum gravity. We extend the de Sitter conjecture by taking into account dynamics of the scalar field. We then apply such an extended de Sitter conjecture…
We study quantum gravity constraints on inflationary model building. Our approach is based on requiring the entropy associated to a given inflationary model to be less than that of the de Sitter entropy. We give two prescriptions for…
We propose a landscape of many axions, where the axion potential receives various contributions from shift symmetry breaking effects. We show that the existence of the axion with a super-Planckian decay constant is very common in the axion…
There is theoretical evidence that the number of degrees of freedom in quantum fields decreases as one studies them at extremely short distances. This emerges from the study of entropy of black holes, as well as from holographic theories in…
Natural supergravity models of new inflation are reconsidered as minimal inflationary models within slow-roll approximation. Their running spectral index is derived in a revised form with recent observational results and future refinements…
Large field inflation can be sensitive to perturbative and nonperturbative quantum corrections that spoil slow roll. A large number $N$ of light species in the theory, which occur in many string constructions, can amplify these problems.…
We view and provide further evidence for a number of Swampland criteria, including the Weak Gravity Conjecture, Distance Conjecture and bounds on the finiteness of the quantum gravity vacua from the prism of the finiteness of black hole…
We conjecture an intrinsic UV cutoff for the validity of the effective field theory with a large number of species coupled to gravity. In four dimensions such a UV cutoff takes the form $\Lambda=\sqrt{\lambda/ N}M_p$ for $N$ scalar fields…
A short introduction to structure formation is given, followed by a discussion of the possible characteristics of the initial perturbations assuming a generic inflationary origin. Observational data related to large-scale structure and the…
We numerically study axion-U(1) inflation, focusing on the regime where the coupling between axions and gauge fields results in significant backreaction from the amplified gauge fields during inflation. These amplified gauge fields not only…
Because the inflationary mechanism is extremely sensitive to UV-physics, the construction of theoretically robust models of inflation provides a unique window on Planck-scale physics. We review efforts to use an axion with a shift symmetry…
We review recent trends on inflationary dynamics in the context of viable modified gravity theories. After providing a general overview of the inflationary paradigm emphasizing on what problems of hot Big Bang theory inflation solves, and a…
By applying a particular kind of modified gravity, we study the inflation. Precisely, we extend our investigations beyond the Einstein's gravity to explore the Natural inflation model via the term $F(\phi)T$. We compute the inflation…
We study one-loop divergences in Einstein-Maxwell theory and their implications for the weak gravity conjecture. In particular, we show that renormalization of these divergences leads to positivity of higher-derivative corrections to the…
Loop corrections to observables in slow-roll inflation are found to diverge no worse than powers of the log of the scale factor, extending Weinberg's theorem to quasi-single field inflation models. Demanding perturbation theory be valid…
We investigate the effect of non-canonical kinetic terms on inflation in supergravity. We find that the biggest impact of such higher-derivative kinetic terms is due to the corrections to the potential that they induce via their effect on…
We revisit the Scalar Weak Gravity Conjecture and investigate the possibility to impose that scalar interactions dominate over gravitational ones. More precisely, we look for consequences of assuming that, for leading scalar interactions,…