Related papers: Warped Tachyonic Inflation in Type IIB Flux Compac…
We investigate multi-field inflationary scenarios with fields that drop out of the model in a staggered fashion. This feature is natural in certain multi-field inflationary setups within string theory; for instance, it can manifest itself…
We show that the naive application of the Kibble mechanism seriously underestimates the initial density of cosmic superstrings that can be formed during the annihilation of D-branes in the early universe, as in models of brane-antibrane…
This thesis is dedicated to the study of inflationary scenarios based on string theory. Inflation is a brief period of accelerated expansion in the very early Universe which gives natural explanations for problems of the Standard Big Bang…
The main problem of inflation in string theory is finding the models with a flat potential, consistent with stabilization of the volume of the compactified space. This can be achieved in the theories where the potential has (an approximate)…
We propose new large field inflation scenarios built on the framework of F-term axion monodromy. Our setup is based on string compactifications where D-branes create potentials for closed string axions via F-terms. Because the source of the…
In cosmological models where local cosmic strings are formed at the end of a period of inflation, the perturbations are seeded both by the defects and by the quantum fluctuations. In a subset of these models, for example those based on…
We consider cosmological inflation driven by the rolling tachyon in the context of the braneworld scenario. We show that sufficient inflation consistent with the observational constraints can be achieved for well defined upper limits on the…
Attempts to connect string theory with astrophysical observation are hampered by a jargon barrier, where an intimidating profusion of orientifolds, Kahler potentials, etc. dissuades cosmologists from attempting to work out the astrophysical…
We develop a string-motivated dynamical Gauss--Bonnet completion of Starobinsky inflation. Since a constant Gauss--Bonnet term is topological in four dimensions, observable effects must arise from a modulus, dilaton, or compactification…
It was recently pointed out that the fundamental Planck mass could be close to the TeV scale with the observed weakness of gravity at long distances being due the existence of new sub-millimeter spatial dimensions. In this picture the…
Inflationary models whose vacuum energy arises from a D-term are believed not to suffer from the supergravity eta problem of F-term inflation. That is, D-term models have the desirable property that the inflaton mass can naturally remain…
We discuss string corrections to the effective potential in various models of brane inflation. These corrections contribute to the mass of the inflaton candidate and may improve its slow-roll properties. In particular, in orientifold string…
The most important criteria for a successful inflation are to explain the observed temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation, and exiting inflation in a vacuum where it can excite the Standard Model quarks and…
We present a new mechanism for slow-roll inflation based on higher dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory compactified to four dimensions with twisted (supersymmetry breaking) boundary conditions. These boundary conditions lead to a…
The "central" region of moduli space of M- and string theories is where the string coupling is about unity and the volume of compact dimensions is about the string volume. Here we argue that in this region the non-perturbative potential…
We study a new framework for brane-antibrane inflation where moduli stabilisation relies purely on perturbative corrections to the effective action. This guarantees that the model does not suffer from the eta-problem. The inflationary…
We examine the Kaluza-Klein theory for warped flux compactifications of type $II\ b $ string theory on a Minkowski spacetime $ M_4$ times a conic Calabi-Yau orientifold $X_6$. The region glued along the internal space directions to the bulk…
In this paper we present an initial exploration of the Calabi-Yau landscape in the context of Kahler moduli inflation. We review how the slow-roll requirement on the scalar potential translates to a geometric constraint on the Kahler…
Tribrid inflation is a class of supersymmetric inflation models where the scalar component of a matter superfield, or a $D$-flat direction of matter fields, drives inflation. Similar to Hybrid inflation, the end of inflation is reached when…
Stabilization of closed string moduli in toroidal orientifold compactifications of type IIB string theory are studied using constant internal magnetic fields on D-branes and 3-form fluxes that preserve N=1 supersymmetry in four dimensions.…