Natural Inflation from Near Alignment in Heterotic String Theory
Tibra Ali, S. Shajidul Haque, Vishnu Jejjala
TL;DR
The paper embeds the Kim–Nilles–Peloso near-alignment mechanism for natural inflation into heterotic string theory using two Kähler moduli. By combining gaugino-condensation and worldsheet instantons, it generates a two-axion potential with two cosines that can be nearly aligned, producing a large effective axion decay constant after canonical normalization. A D-term uplift completes the construction, and a concrete numerical example demonstrates f_eff well above the Planck scale without fine-tuning. This work advances the integration of large-field inflation within heterotic compactifications, linking moduli stabilization considerations to cosmological dynamics and suggesting concrete avenues for explicit model realizations.
Abstract
We propose a model for large field inflation in heterotic string theory. The construction applies the near alignment mechanism of Kim, Nilles, and Peloso. By including gaugino condensates and world-sheet instanton non-perturbative effects, we obtain a large effective axion decay constant.