PIRSA:08060140 Conference Quantum Fields and Strings Particle Physics Cosmology

DOI10.48660/08060140

Conference/School: PASCOS 08

Westphal, A. (2008). Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inflation. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/08060140

Westphal, Alexander. Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inflation. Perimeter Institute, Jun. 03, 2008, https://pirsa.org/08060140 

@misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:08060140,
  doi = {10.48660/08060140},
  url = {https://pirsa.org/08060140},
  author = {Westphal, Alexander},
  keywords = {Quantum Fields and Strings, Particle Physics, Cosmology},
  language = {en},
  title = {Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inflation},
  publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
  year = {2008},
  month = {jun},
  note = {PIRSA:08060140 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
}

Abstract

We present a simple mechanism for obtaining large-field inflation, and hence a gravitational wave signature, from string theory compactified on twisted tori. For Nil manifolds, we obtain a leading inflationary potential proportional to phi^(2/3) in terms of the canonically normalized field phi, yielding predictions for the tilt of the power spectrum and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, $n_sapprox 0.98$ and $rapprox 0.04$ with 60 e-foldings of inflation; we note also the possibility of a variant with a candidate inflaton potential proportional to phi^(2/5). The basic mechanism involved in extending the field range -- monodromy in D-branes as they move in circles on the manifold -- arises in a more general class of compactifications, though our methods for controlling the corrections to the slow-roll parameters require additional symmetries.

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