Eternal inflation near inflection points: a challenge to primordial black hole models

Abstract

Inflation with an inflection point potential is a popular model for producing primordial black holes. The potential near the inflection point is approximately flat, with a local maximum next to a local minimum, prone to eternal inflation. We show that a sufficient condition for eternal inflation is $\lambda_1 \leq 3$, where $\lambda_1$ is the index of the `exponential tail,' the lowest eigenvalue of the Fokker--Planck equation over a bounded region. We write $\lambda_1$ in terms of the model parameters for linear and quadratic regions. Wide quadratic regions inflate eternally if the second slow-roll parameter $\eta_V \geq -6$. We test example models from the literature and show this condition is satisfied; we argue eternal inflation is difficult to avoid in inflection point PBH models. Eternally inflating regions correspond to type II perturbations and form baby universes, hidden behind black hole horizons. These baby universes are inhomogeneous on large scales and dominate the multiverse's total volume. We argue that, if volume weighting is used, eternal inflation makes inflection point primordial black hole models incompatible with large-scale structure observations.