Chain inflation revisited

Abstract

This paper represents an in-depth treatment of the chain inflation scenario. We fully determine the evolution of the universe in the model, the necessary conditions in order to have a successful inflationary period, and the matching with the observational results regarding the cosmological perturbations. We study in great detail, and in general, the dynamics of the background, as well as the mechanism of generation of the perturbations. We also find an explicit formula for the spectrum of adiabatic perturbations. Our results prove that chain inflation is a viable model for solving the horizon, entropy and flatness problem of standard cosmology and for generating the right amount of adiabatic cosmological perturbations. The results are radically different from those found in previous works on the subject. Finally, we argue that there is a natural way to embed chain inflation into flux compactified string theory. We discuss the details of the implementation and how to fit observations.

25 pages and references, version for publication

References in corpus (6)

• Flux Compactification
• Simplified Chain Inflation
• The world next door - Results in landscape topography
• Inflation without Inflaton(s)
• Deforming, revolving and resolving - New paths in the string theory landscape
• Density Perturbations in Chain Inflation

Cited by in corpus (16)

• Gravity Waves and Linear Inflation from Axion Monodromy
• The landscape of QCD axion models
• Oscillations in the CMB from Axion Monodromy Inflation
• Examining the end of inflation with primordial black holes mass distribution and gravitational waves
• Multi-field Inflation with a Random Potential
• Slow nucleation rates in Chain Inflation with QCD Axions or Monodromy
• Multi-Field Inflation on the Landscape
• Gravitational waves from first order phase transitions during inflation
• Tunneling and propagation of vacuum bubbles on dynamical backgrounds
• Chain inflation and the imprint of fundamental physics in the CMBR
• Multi-Stream Inflation in a Landscape
• Chain Inflation Reconsidered
• Restrictions on infinite sequences of type IIB vacua
• The Power Spectrum of Density Perturbations in Chain Inflation
• "Old" Locked Inflation
• Observing the Structure of the Landscape with the CMB Experiments