Abstract
We study the dynamics of axion-like fields in F-theory and suggest that they can serve as inflatons in models of natural inflation. The axions arise from harmonic three-forms on the F-theory compactification space and parameterize a complex torus that varies over the geometric moduli space. In particular, this implies that the axion decay constants depend on the complex structure moduli that can be fixed by background fluxes. This might allow tuning them to be super-Planckian in a controlled way and allow for interesting single field inflationary models. We argue that this requires a localization of the three-forms near regions of strong string coupling, analogously to the reasoning that GUT physics requires the use of F-theory. These models can admit a tensor to scalar ratio r>. 0.1.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 201-208 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics |
| Volume | 739 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Dec 2014 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:I would like to thank Ralph Blumenhagen, Federico Bonetti, Iñaki García-Etxebarria, Jan Keitel, Eran Palti, Tom Pugh, and Edward Witten for interesting discussions and comments on the draft. This research was funded by a research grant of the Max Planck Society .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 The Author.
Funding
I would like to thank Ralph Blumenhagen, Federico Bonetti, Iñaki García-Etxebarria, Jan Keitel, Eran Palti, Tom Pugh, and Edward Witten for interesting discussions and comments on the draft. This research was funded by a research grant of the Max Planck Society .