arXiv subjects

Renata Kallosh

Publications and source records attributed to Renata Kallosh.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

The Unity of Cosmological Attractors

Recently, several broad classes of inflationary models have been discovered whose cosmological predictions are stable with respect to significant modifications of the inflaton potential. Some classes of models are based on a non-minimal coupling to gravity. These models, which we will call $ξ$-attractors, describe universal cosmological attractors (including Higgs inflation) and induced inflation models. Another class describes conformal attractors (including Starobinsky inflation and T-models) and their generalization to $α$-attractors. The aim of this paper is to elucidate the common denominator of these models: their attractor properties stem from a pole of order two in the kinetic term of the inflaton field in the Einstein frame formulation, prior to switching to the canonical variables. We point out that $α$- and universal attractors differ in the subleading corrections to the kinetic term. As a final step towards unification of $ξ$ and $α$ attractors, we introduce a special class of $ξ$-attractors which is fully equivalent to $α$-attractors with the identification $α= 1+{1\over 6ξ}$. There is no theoretical lower bound on $r$ in this class of models.

hep-th↗

arXiv2015

Inflation, de Sitter Landscape and Super-Higgs effect

We continue developing cosmological models involving nilpotent chiral superfields, which provide a simple unified description of inflation and the current acceleration of the universe in the supergravity context. We describe here a general class of models with a positive cosmological constant at the minimum of the potential, such that supersymmetry is spontaneously broken in the direction of the nilpotent superfield $S$. In the unitary gauge, these models have a simple action where all highly non-linear fermionic terms of the classical Volkov-Akulov action disappear. We present masses for bosons and fermions in these theories. By a proper choice of parameters in this class of models, one can fit any possible set of the inflationary parameters $n_{s}$ and $r$, a broad range of values of the vacuum energy $V_{0}$, which plays the role of the dark energy, and achieve a controllable level of supersymmetry breaking. This can be done without introducing light moduli, such as Polonyi fields, which often lead to cosmological problems in phenomenological supergravity.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

An Update on Perturbative N=8 Supergravity

According to the recent pure spinor analysis of the UV divergences by Karlsson, there are no divergent 1PI structures beyond 6 loops in D=4 N=8 supergravity. In combination with the common expectation that the UV divergences do not appear at less than 7 loops, this may imply that the 4-point amplitude in D=4 N=8 supergravity is all-loop finite. This differs from the result of the previous studies of pure spinors, which suggested that there is a UV divergence at 7 loops in D=4. Therefore an independent investigation of the pure spinor formalism predictions is desirable, as well as continuation of explicit loop computations. In the meantime, we revisit here our earlier arguments on UV finiteness of N=8 supergravity based on the absence of the off-shell light-cone superspace counterterms, as well as on the E_{7(7)} current conservation. We believe that both arguments remain valid in view of the developments in this area during the last few years.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Inflation and Uplifting with Nilpotent Superfields

Recently it was found that a broad class of existing inflationary models based on supergravity can be significantly simplified if some of the standard, unconstrained chiral superfields are replaced by nilpotent superfields, associated with Volkov-Akulov supersymmetry. The same method allows to simplify the existing models of uplifting of AdS vacua in string theory. In this paper we will show that one can go well beyond simplifying the models that already exist. We will propose a broad class of new models of chaotic inflation based on supergravity with nilpotent superfields, which simultaneously incorporate both inflation and uplifting. They provide a simple unified description of inflation and the present acceleration of the universe in the supergravity context.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Emergence of Spontaneously Broken Supersymmetry on an Anti-D3-Brane in KKLT dS Vacua

The KKLT construction of de Sitter vacua includes an uplifting term coming from an anti-D3-brane. Here we show how this term can arise via spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry, based on the emergence of a nilpotent chiral supermultiplet on the world-volume of the anti-D3-brane. We establish and use the fact that both the DBI as well as the WZ term, with account of orientifolding, acquire a form of the Volkov-Akulov action. For an O3 orientifold involution of $\mathbb{R}^{9,1}$ we demonstrate the cancellation between the fermionic parts of the DBI and WZ term for the D3-brane action. For the anti-D3-brane we show that the DBI action and the WZ action combine and lead to the emergence of the goldstino multiplet which is responsible for spontaneous breaking of supersymmetry. This provides a string theoretic explanation for the supersymmetric uplifting term in the KKLT effective supergravity model supplemented by a nilpotent chiral multiplet.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

The double attractor behavior of induced inflation

We describe an induced inflation, which refers to a class of inflationary models with a generalized non-minimal coupling $ξg(ϕ) R$ and a specific scalar potential. The defining property of these models is that the scalar field takes a vev in the vacuum and thus induces an effective Planck mass. We study this model as a function of the coupling parameter $ξ$. At large $ξ$, the predictions of the theory are known to have an attractor behavior, converging to a universal result independent on the choice of the function $g(ϕ)$. We find that at small $ξ$, the theory approaches a second attractor. The inflationary predictions of this class of theories continuously interpolate between those of the Starobinsky model and the predictions of the simplest chaotic inflation with a quadratic potential.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Cosmology with Nilpotent Superfields

We discuss N=1 supergravity inflationary models based on two chiral multiplets, the inflaton and the goldstino superfield. Using superconformal methods for these models, we propose to replace the unconstrained chiral goldstino multiplet by the nilpotent one associated with non-linearly realized supersymmetry of the Volkov-Akulov type. In the new cosmological models, the sgoldstino is proportional to a bilinear combination of fermionic goldstinos. It does not acquire any vev, does nor require stabilization, and does not affect the cosmological evolution. We explain a universal relation of these new models to kappa-symmetric super-Dp-brane actions. This modification significantly simplifies a broad class of the presently existing inflationary models based on supergravity and string theory, including the simplest versions of chaotic inflation, the Starobinsky model, a broad class of cosmological attractors, the Higgs inflation, and much more. In particular, this is a step towards a fully supersymmetric version of the string theory axion monodromy inflation. The new construction serves as a simple and manifestly supersymmetric uplifting tool in the KKLT-type string theory landscape.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Natural Inflation in Supergravity and Beyond

Supergravity models of natural inflation and its generalizations are presented. These models are special examples of the class of supergravity models proposed in arXiv:1008.3375 and arXiv:1011.5945, which have a shift symmetric Kähler potential, superpotential linear in goldstino, and stable Minkowski vacua. We present a class of supergravity models with arbitrary potentials modulated by sinusoidal oscillations, similar to the potentials associated with axion monodromy models. We show that one can implement natural inflation in supergravity even in the models of a single axion field with axion parameters O(1). We also discuss the irrational axion landscape in supergravity, which describes a potential with infinite number of stable Minkowski and metastable dS minima.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Is Imaginary Starobinsky Model Real?

We investigate the recently proposed possibility of chaotic inflation with respect to the imaginary part of the field T in a supersymmetric embedding of the Starobinsky model. We show that the stage of rapid expansion driven by Im T in this model ends almost instantly, and the subsequent stages of inflation are driven by the real part of the field T, as in the standard Starobinsky model. Thus, the Starobinsky model and its supersymmetric generalizations remain disfavored by the recent BICEP2 data.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Large Field Inflation and Double $α$-Attractors

We consider a broad class of inflationary models that arise naturally in supergravity. They are defined in terms of a parameter $α$ that determines the curvature and cutoff of these models. As a function of this parameter, we exhibit that the inflationary predictions generically interpolate between two attractor points. At small cutoff $α$, the resulting inflationary model is of plateau-type with $n_s = 1 - 2 / N$ and $r = 12 α/ N^2$. For $α= 1$, these predictions coincide with predictions of the Starobinsky model and Higgs inflation. In contrast, for large cutoff $α$, the theory asymptotes to quadratic inflation, with $n_s = 1 - 2 / N$, $r = 8 / N$. Both universal predictions can be attributed to a stretching of the moduli space. For intermediate values of $α$, the predictions interpolate between these two critical points, thus covering the sweet spots of both Planck and BICEP2.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Analytic Classes of Metastable de Sitter Vacua

In this paper, we give a systematic procedure for building locally stable dS vacua in $\mathcal{N}=1$ supergravity models motivated by string theory. We assume that one of the superfields has a Kahler potential of no-scale type and impose a hierarchy of supersymmetry breaking conditions. In the no-scale modulus direction the supersymmetry breaking is not small, in all other directions it is of order $ε$. We establish the existence of an abundance of vacua for large regions in the parameter space spanned by $ε$ and the cosmological constant. These regions exist regardless of the details of the other moduli, provided the superpotential can be tuned such that the off-diagonal blocks of the mass matrix are parametrically small. We test and support this general dS landscape construction by explicit analytic solutions for the STU model. The Minkowski limits of these dS vacua either break supersymmetry or have flat directions in agreement with a no-go theorem that we prove, stating that a supersymmetric Minkowski vacuum without flat directions cannot be continuously deformed into a non-supersymmetric vacuum. We also describe a method for finding a broad class of stable supersymmetric Minkowski vacua that can be F-term uplifted to dS vacua and which have an easily controllable SUSY breaking scale.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Chaotic Inflation in Supergravity after Planck and BICEP2

We discuss the general structure and observational consequences of some of the simplest versions of chaotic inflation in supergravity in relation to the data by Planck 2013 and BICEP2. We show that minimal modifications to the simplest quadratic potential are sufficient to provide a controllable tensor mode signal and a suppression of CMB power at large angular scales.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Cosmological Attractor Models and Higher Curvature Supergravity

We study cosmological $α$-attractors in superconformal/supergravity models, where $α$ is related to the geometry of the moduli space. For $α=1$ attractors \cite{Kallosh:2013hoa} we present a generalization of the previously known manifestly superconformal higher curvature supergravity model \cite{Cecotti:1987sa}. The relevant standard 2-derivative supergravity with a minimum of two chiral multiplets is shown to be dual to a 4-derivative higher curvature supergravity, where in general one of the chiral superfields is traded for a curvature superfield. There is a degenerate case when both matter superfields become non-dynamical and there is only a chiral curvature superfield, pure higher derivative supergravity. Generic $α$-models \cite{Kallosh:2013yoa} interpolate between the attractor point at $α=0$ and generic chaotic inflation models at large $α$, in the limit when the inflaton moduli space becomes flat. They have higher derivative duals with the same number of matter fields as the original theory or less, but at least one matter multiplet remains. In the context of these models, the detection of primordial gravity waves will provide information on the curvature of the inflaton submanifold of the Kahler manifold, and we will learn if the inflaton is a fundamental matter multiplet, or can be replaced by a higher derivative curvature excitation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

A universal attractor for inflation at strong coupling

We introduce a novel non-minimal coupling between gravity and the inflaton sector. Remarkably, for large values of this coupling all models asymptote to a universal attractor. This behavior is independent of the original scalar potential and generalizes the attractor in the phi^4 theory with non-minimal coupling to gravity. The attractor is located in the `sweet spot' of Planck's recent results.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

More on Universal Superconformal Attractors

We define a general class of superconformal inflationary attractor models studied in our previous papers [1,2], which include, among others, inflationary models of 'induced gravity' which were argued to retain perturbative unitarity up to the Planck scale [3]. The choice of the function $f(ϕ)$ in superconformal attractors for the models introduced in [3] is $f(ϕ)= ϕ^n - ξ^{-1}$. We present both superconformal and supergravity versions of these models, which were derived in [1,2] for arbitrary $f(ϕ)$, together with the universal conditions required for stabilization of the extra three moduli present in the superconformal attractors, in addition to the inflaton.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Planck 2013 and Superconformal Symmetry

We explain why the concept of a spontaneously broken superconformal symmetry is useful to describe inflationary models favored by the Planck. Non-minimal coupling of complex scalars to curvature, N(X, X*) R, is compulsory for superconformal symmetry. Here N is the Kahler potential of the embedding moduli space, including the inflaton and the conformon. It appears that such a non-minimal coupling allows generic chaotic models of inflation to reach an agreement with the observable (n_{s},r) values. We describe here the superconformal versions of the cosmological attractors whose bosonic part was presented in lectures of A. Linde in this volume. A distinguishing feature of this class of models is that they tend to lead to very similar predictions which are not very sensitive with respect to strong modifications of the theory. The (super)conformal symmetry underlying (super)gravity allows a universal description of a large class of models which agree with observations and predict the tensor to scalar ratio 10^{-3} < r < 10^{-1}.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Journeys Through Antigravity?

A possibility of journeys through antigravity has recently been proposed, with the suggestion that Weyl-invariant extension of scalars coupled to Einstein gravity allows for an unambiguous classical evolution through cosmological singularities in anisotropic spacetimes. We compute the Weyl invariant curvature squared and find that it blows up for the proposed anisotropic solution both at the Big Crunch as well as at the Big Bang. Therefore the cosmological singularities are not resolved by uplifting Einstein theory to a Weyl invariant model.

hep-th↗

arXiv2014

Hidden Superconformal Symmetry of the Cosmological Evolution

In the superconformal formulation of supergravity, the standard supergravity action appears as a result of spontaneous symmetry breaking when the conformal compensator scalar field, the conformon, acquires a nonzero value, giving rise to the Planck mass. After that, many symmetries of the original theory become well hidden, and therefore they are often ignored. However, recent developments demonstrated that superconformal invariance is more than just a tool: it plays an important role in generalizing previously existing formulations of supergravity and developing new classes of inflationary models. In this paper we describe hidden superconformal symmetry of the cosmological evolution. In this formulation, inflation can be equivalently described as the conformon instability, and creation of the universe `from nothing' can be interpreted as spontaneous symmetry breaking due to emergence of a classical conformon field. We develop a general formalism that allows to describe the cosmological evolution simultaneously with the evolution of the conformon. We find a set of gauge invariant physical observables, including the superconformally invariant generalizations of the square of the Weyl tensor, which are necessary for invariant description of the cosmological singularities.

hep-th↗