Hybrid inflation and waterfall field in string theory from D7-branes

Abstract

We present an explicit string realisation of a cosmological inflationary scenario we proposed recently within the framework of type IIB flux compactifications in the presence of three magnetised D7-brane stacks. Inflation takes place around a metastable de Sitter vacuum. The inflaton is identified with the volume modulus and has a potential with a very shallow minimum near the maximum. Inflation ends due to the presence of "waterfall" fields that drive the evolution of the Universe from a nearby saddle point towards a global minimum with tuneable vacuum energy describing the present state of our Universe.

Comments: 41 pages, 3 figures. v2: published version, added precisions on transverse moduli masses on p.24 + solved issue with tables aspect + minor corrections