Abstract
We embed natural inflation in an explict string theory model and derive observables in cosmology. We achieve this by compactifying the type IIB string on a Calabi-Yau orientifold, stabilizing moduli via the Large Volume Scenario, and configuring axions using D7-brane stacks. In order to obtain a large effective decay constant, we employ the Kim-Nilles-Peloso alignment mechanism, with the required multiple axions arising naturally from generically anisotropic bulk geometries. The bulk volumes, and hence the axion decay constants, are stabilized by generalized one-loop corrections and subject to various conditions: the Kähler cone condition on the string geometry; the convex hull condition of the weak gravity conjecture; and the constraint from the power spectrum of scalar perturbations. We find that all constraints can be satisfied in a geometry with relatively small volume and thus heavy bulk axion mass. We also covariantize the convex hull condition for the axion-dilaton-instanton system and verify the normalization of the extremal bound.
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Angus, S., Choi, KS. & Shin, C.S. Aligned natural inflation in the Large Volume Scenario. J. High Energ. Phys. 2021, 248 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2021)248
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP10(2021)248