Cosmology with Twisted Tori

TL;DR

This paper explores the cosmological implications of scalar fields from 11D supergravity compactified on a twisted torus, revealing a novel scaling solution where moduli oscillate with constant energy density, but slow-roll inflation is not feasible.

Contribution

It introduces a new scaling solution in Friedmann cosmologies for moduli fields from twisted torus compactification, expanding understanding of their cosmological behavior.

Findings

No slow-roll inflation with moduli.

Existence of a scaling solution with oscillating moduli.

Moduli maintain constant energy density relative to background.

Abstract

We consider the cosmological role of the scalar fields generated by the compactification of 11-dimensional Einstein gravity on a 7D elliptic twisted torus, which has the attractive features of giving rise to a positive semi-definite potential, and partially fixing the moduli. This compactification is therefore relevant for low energy M-theory, 11D supergravity. We find that slow-roll inflation with the moduli is not possible, but that there is a novel scaling solution in Friedmann cosmologies in which the massive moduli oscillate but maintain a constant energy density relative to the background barotropic fluid.