High Energy Theory Seminar

Inflation with a quadratic potential occurs naturally in theories where an axion-like field mixes with a 4-form. Such an axion is massive, with the mass which arises from the mixing being protected by the axion shift symmetry. The 4-form backgrounds break this symmetry spontaneously and comprise a mini-landscape, where their fluxes can change by emission of membranes. I will discuss the sources of possible corrections to the effective potential and outline the conditions under which they remain small. Once this is fullfilled, inflation can begin when the 4-form dominates the energy density. Eventually this energy is reduced by membrane emission and the axion can roll slowly towards its minimum, as in the simplest version of chaotic inflation.