Related papers: String Thresholds, Dynamical Gauss--Bonnet Couplin…
Recently, an exact description of instanton corrections to the moduli spaces of 4d N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories compactified on a circle and Calabi-Yau compactifications of Type II superstring theories was found. The equations…
Assuming that a scalar field controls the inflationary era, we examine the combined effects of string and $f(R)$ gravity corrections on the inflationary dynamics of canonical scalar field inflation, imposing the constraint that the speed of…
We show that type I string theory compactified in four dimensions in the presence of constant internal magnetic fields possesses N=1 supersymmetric vacua, in which all Kahler class and complex structure closed string moduli are fixed.…
We study moduli stabilization for type IIB orientifolds compactified on Calabi-Yau threefolds in the region close to conifold singularities in the complex structure moduli space. The form of the periods implies new phenomena like…
We revisit the inflationary dynamics in detail for theories with Gauss-Bonnet gravity coupled to scalar functions, in light of the Planck data. Considering the chaotic inflationary scenario, we constrain the parameters of two models…
We consider the O(a') string effective action, with Gauss-Bonnet curvature-squared and fourth-order dilaton-derivative terms, which is derived by a matching procedure with string amplitudes in five space-time dimensions. We show that a…
We study possible string theory compactifications which, in the low-energy limit, describe chaotic inflation with a stabilizer field. We first analyze type IIA setups where the inflationary potential arises from a D6-brane wrapping an…
Data on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are discriminating between different models of inflation, disfavoring simple monomial potentials whilst being consistent with models whose predictions resemble those of the Starobinsky $R + R^2$…
We study slow-roll inflation with a Gauss-Bonnet term that is coupled to an inflaton field nonminimally. We investigate the inflationary solutions for a specific type of the nonminimal coupling to the Gauss-Bonnet term and inflaton…
In this article we present a systematic observational verification of the ghost-free string-inspired $f(R,\mathcal{G})$ model, where the Gauss-Bonnet invariant is non-minimally coupled to an auxiliary scalar field $\chi$ through the…
We present a D-term hybrid inflation model, embedded in supergravity with moduli stabilisation. Its novel features allow us to overcome the serious challenges of combining D-term inflation and moduli fields within the same string-motivated…
These lectures provide an updated pedagogical treatment of the theoretical structure and phenomenology of some basic mechanisms for inflation, along with an overview of the structure of cosmological uplifts of holographic duality. A full…
We study in detail a new model of quintessential inflation where the inflaton field is coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term. This coupling ensures that the variation of the field is kept sub-Planckian, which avoids the 5th force problem as well…
If a coupling between the inflaton and the Gauss-Bonnet term is introduced, many models of inflation that were ruled out by the most recent Planck data can be made viable again. The predictions for the scalar spectral index and…
These lectures cover the theoretical structure and phenomenology of some basic mechanisms for inflation. A full treatment of the problem requires `ultraviolet completion' because of the sensitivity of inflation to quantum gravity effects,…
We propose a new mechanism that adapts to string theory a perturbative method for stabilizing moduli without leaving the domain of perturbative control, thereby evading the `Dine-Seiberg' problem. The only required nonperturbative…
We study difference equations which are obtained from the asymptotic expansion of topological string theory on the deformed and the resolved conifold geometries as well as for topological string theory on arbitrary families of Calabi-Yau…
The topological string partition function Z=exp(lambda^{2g-2} F_g) is calculated on a compact Calabi-Yau M. The F_g fulfill the holomorphic anomaly equations, which imply that Z transforms as a wave function on the symplectic space…
We have explicitly demonstrated that scalar coupled Gauss-Bonnet gravity in four dimension can have non-trivial effects on the early inflationary stage of our universe. In particular, we have shown that the scalar coupled Gauss-Bonnet term…
We consider a physically viable cosmological model that has a field dependent Gauss-Bonnet coupling in its effective action, in addition to a standard scalar field potential. The presence of such terms in the four dimensional effective…