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The Powers of Monodromy
Abstract
Flux couplings to string theory axions yield super-Planckian field ranges along which the axion potential energy grows. At the same time, other aspects of the physics remain essentially unchanged along these large displacements, respecting a discrete shift symmetry with a sub-Planckian period. After a general overview of this monodromy effect and its application to large-field inflation, we present new classes of specific models of monodromy inflation, with monomial potentials μ^{4−}^{p} ϕ . A key simplification in these models is that the inflaton potential energy plays a leading role in moduli stabilization during inflation. The resulting inflaton-dependent shifts in the moduli fields lead to an effective flattening of the inflaton potential, i.e. a reduction of the exponent from a fiducial value p to p < p. We focus on examples arising in compactifications of type IIB string theory on products of tori or Riemann surfaces, where the inflaton descends from the NS-NS two-form potential B, with monodromy induced by a coupling to the R-R field strength F. In this setting we exhibit models with p = 2/3, 4/3, 2, and 3, corresponding to predictions for the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r ≈ 0.04, 0.09, 0.13, and 0.2, respectively. Using mirror symmetry, we also motivate a second class of examples with the role of the axions played by the real parts of complex structure moduli, with fluxes inducing monodromy- info:eu-repo/semantics/preprint
- info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
- inflaton: potential
- potential: energy
- axion: potential
- moduli: stability
- axion: yield
- symmetry: mirror
- monodromy
- inflation
- string model
- compactification
- Riemann surface
- field strength
- torus
- flux
- 4/3
- string: coupling
- space: Calabi-Yau
- T-duality
- simplex
- moduli space