On axion monodromy inflation in warped throats

Journal of High Energy Physics 2015.2 (2015): 086 reproduced by permission of Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA)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 monodrami 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 dualitiesThe work of S. F. and D. G. is supported by the U.K. Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). A. R. and A. U. are partially supported by the grants FPA2012-32828 from the MINECO, the ERC Advanced Grant SPLE under contract ERC-2012-ADG-20120216-320421 and the grant SEV-2012-0249 of the “Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa” Programme. A. R. was also partially supported by the COST Action MP121