Extranatural Inflation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel inflation model where the inflaton is a gauge field component in a 5D theory, featuring a flat potential protected from quantum corrections, predicting specific spectral indices and gravitational wave signals.

Contribution

It proposes a new extra-dimensional inflation model with a non-local potential that remains stable against quantum gravity effects.

Findings

Predicts a spectral index of about 0.96

Forecasts a tensor-to-scalar ratio of approximately 0.11

Highlights potential relevance to quintessence theories

Abstract

We present a new model of inflation in which the inflaton is the extra component of a gauge field in a 5d theory compactified on a circle. The chief merit of this model is that the potential comes only from non-local effects so that its flatness is not spoiled by higher dimensional operators or quantum gravity corrections. The model predicts a red spectrum (n ~ 0.96) and a significant production of gravitational waves (r ~ 0.11). We also comment on the relevance of this idea to quintessence.