One-loop Pfaffians and large-field inflation in string theory
We study the consistency of large-field inflation in low-energy effective field theories of string theory. In particular, we focus on the stability of Kähler moduli in the particularly interesting case where the non-perturbative superpotential of the Kähler sector explicitly depends on the inflaton...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2017-06-01
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| Series: | Physics Letters B |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0370269317302630 |
| Summary: | We study the consistency of large-field inflation in low-energy effective field theories of string theory. In particular, we focus on the stability of Kähler moduli in the particularly interesting case where the non-perturbative superpotential of the Kähler sector explicitly depends on the inflaton field. This situation arises generically due to one-loop corrections to the instanton action. The field dependence of the modulus potential feeds back into the inflationary dynamics, potentially impairing slow roll. We distinguish between world-sheet instantons from Euclidean D-branes, which typically yield polynomial one-loop Pfaffians, and gaugino condensates, which can yield exponential or periodic corrections. In all scenarios successful slow-roll inflation imposes bounds on the magnitude of the one-loop correction, corresponding to constraints on possible compactifications. While we put a certain emphasis on Type IIB constructions with mobile D7-branes, our results seem to apply more generally. |
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| ISSN: | 0370-2693 1873-2445 |