Authors: Ben Heidenreich Matthew Reece Tom Rudelius
Publish Date: 2015/12/16
Volume: 2015, Issue: 12, Pages: 1-41
Abstract
Models of largefield inflation based on axionlike fields with shift symmetries can be simple and natural and make a promising prediction of detectable primordial gravitational waves The Weak Gravity Conjecture is known to constrain the simplest case in which a single compact axion descends from a gauge field in an extra dimension We argue that the Weak Gravity Conjecture also constrains a variety of theories of multiple compact axions including Nflation and some alignment models We show that other alignment models entail surprising consequences for how the mass spectrum of the theory varies across the axion moduli space and hence can be excluded if further conjectures hold In every case that we consider plausible assumptions lead to field ranges that cannot be parametrically larger than M Pl Our results are strongly suggestive of a general inconsistency in models of largefield inflation based on compact axions and possibly of a more general principle forbidding superPlanckian field rangesThis article is published under an open access license Please check the Copyright Information section for details of this license and what reuse is permitted If your intended use exceeds what is permitted by the license or if you are unable to locate the licence and reuse information please contact the Rights and Permissions team
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