Abstract
Recent models of axion monodromy inflation in string theory link the inflationary potential and the moduli stabilization potential. Realistic inflationary models require mechanisms to moderately suppress the inflaton mass with respect to the moduli stabilization scale. In this paper we explore the realization of this idea using warped throats, whose redshifted infrared region supports the inflaton mode. The inflaton potential and its monodromy arise from couplings to the fluxes supporting the throat. We provide explicit realizations of such throats in type IIB with NSNS and RR 3-form field strength fluxes, and in type IIA with RR 2-form fluxes. Once embedded in a global CY, these systems would provide a mechanism to realize chaotic inflation at scales parametrically suppressed with respect to bulk physics. The construction of the throats is systematically carried out using geometric transitions in systems of D-branes at singularities, whose properties and dynamics are efficiently encoded using dimer diagrams. The holographic dual of the axion monodromy is a quasi-periodic chain of Seiberg dualities.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
BICEP2 collaboration, P.A.R. Ade et al., Detection of B-mode polarization at degree angular scales by BICEP2, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112 (2014) 241101 [arXiv:1403.3985] [INSPIRE].
E. Silverstein and A. Westphal, Monodromy in the CMB: gravity waves and string inflation, Phys. Rev. D 78 (2008) 106003 [arXiv:0803.3085] [INSPIRE].
L. McAllister, E. Silverstein and A. Westphal, Gravity waves and linear inflation from axion monodromy, Phys. Rev. D 82 (2010) 046003 [arXiv:0808.0706] [INSPIRE].
S. Dimopoulos, S. Kachru, J. McGreevy and J.G. Wacker, N-flation, JCAP 08 (2008) 003 [hep-th/0507205] [INSPIRE].
J.E. Kim, H.P. Nilles and M. Peloso, Completing natural inflation, JCAP 01 (2005) 005 [hep-ph/0409138] [INSPIRE].
R. Kappl, S. Krippendorf and H.P. Nilles, Aligned natural inflation: monodromies of two axions, Phys. Lett. B 737 (2014) 124 [arXiv:1404.7127] [INSPIRE].
M. Berg, E. Pajer and S. Sjors, Dante’s inferno, Phys. Rev. D 81 (2010) 103535 [arXiv:0912.1341] [INSPIRE].
J.P. Conlon, Brane-antibrane backreaction in axion monodromy inflation, JCAP 01 (2012) 033 [arXiv:1110.6454] [INSPIRE].
R. Flauger, L. McAllister, E. Pajer, A. Westphal and G. Xu, Oscillations in the CMB from axion monodromy inflation, JCAP 06 (2010) 009 [arXiv:0907.2916] [INSPIRE].
E. Palti and T. Weigand, Towards large r from [p, q]-inflation, JHEP 04 (2014) 155 [arXiv:1403.7507] [INSPIRE].
F. Marchesano, G. Shiu and A.M. Uranga, F-term axion monodromy inflation, JHEP 09 (2014) 184 [arXiv:1404.3040] [INSPIRE].
R. Blumenhagen and E. Plauschinn, Towards universal axion inflation and reheating in string theory, Phys. Lett. B 736 (2014) 482 [arXiv:1404.3542] [INSPIRE].
A. Hebecker, S.C. Kraus and L.T. Witkowski, D7-brane chaotic inflation, Phys. Lett. B 737 (2014) 16 [arXiv:1404.3711] [INSPIRE].
L.E. Ibáñez and I. Valenzuela, The inflaton as an MSSM Higgs and open string modulus monodromy inflation, Phys. Lett. B 736 (2014) 226 [arXiv:1404.5235] [INSPIRE].
M. Arends et al., D7-brane moduli space in axion monodromy and fluxbrane inflation, Fortsch. Phys. 62 (2014) 647 [arXiv:1405.0283] [INSPIRE].
L. McAllister, E. Silverstein, A. Westphal and T. Wrase, The powers of monodromy, JHEP 09 (2014) 123 [arXiv:1405.3652] [INSPIRE].
M. Berasaluce-Gonzalez, P.G. Camara, F. Marchesano and A.M. Uranga, Zp charged branes in flux compactifications, JHEP 04 (2013) 138 [arXiv:1211.5317] [INSPIRE].
N. Kaloper and L. Sorbo, A natural framework for chaotic inflation, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102 (2009) 121301 [arXiv:0811.1989] [INSPIRE].
N. Kaloper, A. Lawrence and L. Sorbo, An ignoble approach to large field inflation, JCAP 03 (2011) 023 [arXiv:1101.0026] [INSPIRE].
N. Kaloper and A. Lawrence, Natural chaotic inflation and ultraviolet sensitivity, Phys. Rev. D 90 (2014) 023506 [arXiv:1404.2912] [INSPIRE].
M. Berasaluce-González, G. Ramírez and A.M. Uranga, Antisymmetric tensor Zp gauge symmetries in field theory and string theory, JHEP 01 (2014) 059 [arXiv:1310.5582] [INSPIRE].
G. Dvali, R. Jackiw and S.-Y. Pi, Topological mass generation in four dimensions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 (2006) 081602 [hep-th/0511175] [INSPIRE].
G. Dvali, Three-form gauging of axion symmetries and gravity, hep-th/0507215 [INSPIRE].
G. Dvali, S. Folkerts and A. Franca, How neutrino protects the axion, Phys. Rev. D 89 (2014) 105025 [arXiv:1312.7273] [INSPIRE].
I.R. Klebanov and M.J. Strassler, Supergravity and a confining gauge theory: duality cascades and χ SB resolution of naked singularities, JHEP 08 (2000) 052 [hep-th/0007191] [INSPIRE].
K. Dasgupta, G. Rajesh and S. Sethi, M theory, orientifolds and G-flux, JHEP 08 (1999) 023 [hep-th/9908088] [INSPIRE].
S.B. Giddings, S. Kachru and J. Polchinski, Hierarchies from fluxes in string compactifications, Phys. Rev. D 66 (2002) 106006 [hep-th/0105097] [INSPIRE].
S. Gukov, C. Vafa and E. Witten, CFT’s from Calabi-Yau four folds, Nucl. Phys. B 584 (2000) 69 [Erratum ibid. B 608 (2001) 477-478] [hep-th/9906070] [INSPIRE].
I.R. Klebanov and A.A. Tseytlin, Gravity duals of supersymmetric SU(N) × SU(N + M) gauge theories, Nucl. Phys. B 578 (2000) 123 [hep-th/0002159] [INSPIRE].
S.S. Gubser and I.R. Klebanov, Baryons and domain walls in an N = 1 superconformal gauge theory, Phys. Rev. D 58 (1998) 125025 [hep-th/9808075] [INSPIRE].
O. Aharony and A. Hanany, Branes, superpotentials and superconformal fixed points, Nucl. Phys. B 504 (1997) 239 [hep-th/9704170] [INSPIRE].
O. Aharony, A. Hanany and B. Kol, Webs of (p, q) five-branes, five-dimensional field theories and grid diagrams, JHEP 01 (1998) 002 [hep-th/9710116] [INSPIRE].
S. Franco, A. Hanany, K.D. Kennaway, D. Vegh and B. Wecht, Brane dimers and quiver gauge theories, JHEP 01 (2006) 096 [hep-th/0504110] [INSPIRE].
K.D. Kennaway, Brane tilings, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A 22 (2007) 2977 [arXiv:0706.1660] [INSPIRE].
M. Yamazaki, Brane tilings and their applications, Fortsch. Phys. 56 (2008) 555 [arXiv:0803.4474] [INSPIRE].
C. Beasley, B.R. Greene, C.I. Lazaroiu and M.R. Plesser, D3-branes on partial resolutions of Abelian quotient singularities of Calabi-Yau threefolds, Nucl. Phys. B 566 (2000) 599 [hep-th/9907186] [INSPIRE].
B. Feng, A. Hanany and Y.-H. He, D-brane gauge theories from toric singularities and toric duality, Nucl. Phys. B 595 (2001) 165 [hep-th/0003085] [INSPIRE].
B. Feng, A. Hanany and Y.-H. He, Phase structure of D-brane gauge theories and toric duality, JHEP 08 (2001) 040 [hep-th/0104259] [INSPIRE].
C.E. Beasley and M.R. Plesser, Toric duality is Seiberg duality, JHEP 12 (2001) 001 [hep-th/0109053] [INSPIRE].
B. Feng, A. Hanany, Y.-H. He and A.M. Uranga, Toric duality as Seiberg duality and brane diamonds, JHEP 12 (2001) 035 [hep-th/0109063] [INSPIRE].
B. Feng, S. Franco, A. Hanany and Y.-H. He, Symmetries of toric duality, JHEP 12 (2002) 076 [hep-th/0205144] [INSPIRE].
I.R. Klebanov and A. Murugan, Gauge/gravity duality and warped resolved conifold, JHEP 03 (2007) 042 [hep-th/0701064] [INSPIRE].
S. Franco, Y.-H. He, C. Herzog and J. Walcher, Chaotic duality in string theory, Phys. Rev. D 70 (2004) 046006 [hep-th/0402120] [INSPIRE].
S. Franco, A. Hanany and A.M. Uranga, Multi-flux warped throats and cascading gauge theories, JHEP 09 (2005) 028 [hep-th/0502113] [INSPIRE].
R.G. Leigh and M. Rozali, Brane boxes, anomalies, bending and tadpoles, Phys. Rev. D 59 (1999) 026004 [hep-th/9807082] [INSPIRE].
G. Aldazabal, D. Badagnani, L.E. Ibáñez and A.M. Uranga, Tadpole versus anomaly cancellation in D = 4, D = 6 compact IIB orientifolds, JHEP 06 (1999) 031 [hep-th/9904071] [INSPIRE].
I.R. Klebanov and E. Witten, Superconformal field theory on three-branes at a Calabi-Yau singularity, Nucl. Phys. B 536 (1998) 199 [hep-th/9807080] [INSPIRE].
S. Franco, A. Hanany, F. Saad and A.M. Uranga, Fractional branes and dynamical supersymmetry breaking, JHEP 01 (2006) 011 [hep-th/0505040] [INSPIRE].
I. Garcia-Etxebarria, F. Saad and A.M. Uranga, Quiver gauge theories at resolved and deformed singularities using dimers, JHEP 06 (2006) 055 [hep-th/0603108] [INSPIRE].
B.V. Karpov and D.Y. Nogin, Three-block exceptional collections over Del Pezzo surfaces, alg-geom/9703027.
E. Witten, Theta dependence in the large-N limit of four-dimensional gauge theories, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 (1998) 2862 [hep-th/9807109] [INSPIRE].
S. Dubovsky, A. Lawrence and M.M. Roberts, Axion monodromy in a model of holographic gluodynamics, JHEP 02 (2012) 053 [arXiv:1105.3740] [INSPIRE].
M. Dine, P. Draper and A. Monteux, Monodromy inflation in SUSY QCD, JHEP 07 (2014) 146 [arXiv:1405.0068] [INSPIRE].
K. Yonekura, Notes on natural inflation, JCAP 10 (2014) 054 [arXiv:1405.0734] [INSPIRE].
C. Vafa, Superstrings and topological strings at large-N , J. Math. Phys. 42 (2001) 2798 [hep-th/0008142] [INSPIRE].
M. Atiyah, J.M. Maldacena and C. Vafa, An M-theory flop as a large-N duality, J. Math. Phys. 42 (2001) 3209 [hep-th/0011256] [INSPIRE].
M. Atiyah and E. Witten, M theory dynamics on a manifold of G 2 holonomy, Adv. Theor. Math. Phys. 6 (2003) 1 [hep-th/0107177] [INSPIRE].
X. Dong, B. Horn, E. Silverstein and A. Westphal, Simple exercises to flatten your potential, Phys. Rev. D 84 (2011) 026011 [arXiv:1011.4521] [INSPIRE].
S. Kuperstein, Nonsupersymmetric deformation of the Klebanov-Strassler model and the related plane wave theory, Eur. Phys. J. C (2003) 498 [hep-th/0311138] [INSPIRE].
A.R. Frey and A. Maharana, Warped spectroscopy: localization of frozen bulk modes, JHEP 08 (2006) 021 [hep-th/0603233] [INSPIRE].
A. Hanany and I.R. Klebanov, On tensionless strings in (3 + 1)-dimensions, Nucl. Phys. B 482 (1996) 105 [hep-th/9606136] [INSPIRE].
R. Argurio, M. Bertolini, S. Franco and S. Kachru, Gauge/gravity duality and meta-stable dynamical supersymmetry breaking, JHEP 01 (2007) 083 [hep-th/0610212] [INSPIRE].
R. Argurio, M. Bertolini, S. Franco and S. Kachru, Meta-stable vacua and D-branes at the conifold, JHEP 06 (2007) 017 [hep-th/0703236] [INSPIRE].
O. DeWolfe, S. Kachru and M. Mulligan, A gravity dual of metastable dynamical supersymmetry breaking, Phys. Rev. D 77 (2008) 065011 [arXiv:0801.1520] [INSPIRE].
P. McGuirk, G. Shiu and Y. Sumitomo, Non-supersymmetric infrared perturbations to the warped deformed conifold, Nucl. Phys. B 842 (2011) 383 [arXiv:0910.4581] [INSPIRE].
V. Balasubramanian, P. Berglund, V. Braun and I. Garcia-Etxebarria, Global embeddings for branes at toric singularities, JHEP 10 (2012) 132 [arXiv:1201.5379] [INSPIRE].
N. Arkani-Hamed, A.G. Cohen and H. Georgi, (De)constructing dimensions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86 (2001) 4757 [hep-th/0104005] [INSPIRE].
A.M. Uranga, Brane configurations for branes at conifolds, JHEP 01 (1999) 022 [hep-th/9811004] [INSPIRE].
M. Cvetič, H. Lü, D.N. Page and C.N. Pope, New Einstein-Sasaki spaces in five and higher dimensions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95 (2005) 071101 [hep-th/0504225] [INSPIRE].
D. Martelli and J. Sparks, Toric Sasaki-Einstein metrics on S 2 × S 3, Phys. Lett. B 621 (2005) 208 [hep-th/0505027] [INSPIRE].
S. Franco et al., Gauge theories from toric geometry and brane tilings, JHEP 01 (2006) 128 [hep-th/0505211] [INSPIRE].
A. Butti, D. Forcella and A. Zaffaroni, The dual superconformal theory for L pqr manifolds, JHEP 09 (2005) 018 [hep-th/0505220] [INSPIRE].
S. Benvenuti and M. Kruczenski, From Sasaki-Einstein spaces to quivers via BPS geodesics: L p,q|r, JHEP 04 (2006) 033 [hep-th/0505206] [INSPIRE].
A. Hanany and E. Witten, Type IIB superstrings, BPS monopoles and three-dimensional gauge dynamics, Nucl. Phys. B 492 (1997) 152 [hep-th/9611230] [INSPIRE].
A. Giveon and D. Kutasov, Brane dynamics and gauge theory, Rev. Mod. Phys. 71 (1999) 983 [hep-th/9802067] [INSPIRE].
E. Witten, Branes and the dynamics of QCD, Nucl. Phys. B 507 (1997) 658 [hep-th/9706109] [INSPIRE].
I.Y. Kobzarev, L.B. Okun and M.B. Voloshin, Bubbles in metastable vacuum, Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 20 (1975) 644 [Yad. Fiz. 20 (1974) 1229] [INSPIRE].
S.R. Coleman, The fate of the false vacuum. 1. Semiclassical theory, Phys. Rev. D 15 (1977) 2929 [Erratum ibid. D 16 (1977) 1248] [INSPIRE].
C.G. Callan Jr. and S.R. Coleman, The fate of the false vacuum. 2. First quantum corrections, Phys. Rev. D 16 (1977) 1762 [INSPIRE].
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
ArXiv ePrint: 1405.7044
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution, and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
About this article
Cite this article
Franco, S., Galloni, D., Retolaza, A. et al. On axion monodromy inflation in warped throats. J. High Energ. Phys. 2015, 86 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2015)086
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP02(2015)086