Phase transition and monopole production in supergravity inflation

TL;DR

This paper investigates monopole and domain wall production during phase transitions in supergravity inflation, deriving constraints on symmetry breaking scales and exploring conditions for observable monopoles.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of topological defect production in supergravity inflation models, linking phase transition dynamics to observable monopole signals.

Findings

Monopole production constraints depend on the tensor-to-scalar ratio.

Monopoles can be sufficiently diluted or potentially observable.

Phase transitions during inflation influence topological defect abundance.

Abstract

In F-term supergravity inflation models, scalar fields other than the inflaton generically receive a Hubble induced mass, which may restore gauge symmetries during inflation and phase transitions may occur during or after inflation as the Hubble parameter decreases. We study monopole (and domain wall) production associated with such a phase transition in chaotic inflation in supergravity and obtain a severe constraint on the symmetry breaking scale which is related with the tensor-to-scalar ratio. Depending on model parameters, it is possible that monopoles are sufficiently diluted to be free from current constraints but still observable by planned experiments.