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Geneva University seminars

Inflation on Random Landscapes

by Thorsten Battefeld (Goettingen University)

Europe/Zurich
Geneva University

Geneva University

24 quai E. Ansermet, CH-1211 Genève 4
Description
Moduli spaces in string theory, often dubbed Landscapes, are usually of high dimensionality and feature a complicated potential. Is multi-field inflation on such landscapes consistent with current observations by PLANCK? Modeling such landscapes by random potentials offers the opportunity to asses generic features of inflation. Random matrix theory provides a tool (complementing numerical experiments) to address many questions analytically, without requiring a detailed knowledge of the potential, i.e. details of the compactification, due to the feature of universality. Thus, the generic prediction of a landscape in string theory can be put to the test. I will discuss the preference of saddle point inflation in a class of landscapes, commenting on the role of eternal inflation, anthropic arguments and the measure problem within this framework. As an application, I will discuss how current constraints on non-Gaussianities impose bounds on the curvature of the end-of-inflation hyper-surface in this class of models, which in turn imposes constraints on the topography of the landscape.