Cosmological Moduli Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex dynamics of scalar fields (moduli) in string theory effective actions, revealing chaotic behavior and mechanisms for moduli stabilization near special points in moduli space.

Contribution

It introduces a truncated effective action model near special loci in moduli space to analyze moduli dynamics and stabilization mechanisms, highlighting chaotic behavior.

Findings

Rich dynamical structure including chaos

Viable mechanisms for moduli trapping

Insights into moduli behavior near conifold points

Abstract

Low energy effective actions arising from string theory typically contain many scalar fields, some with a very complicated potential and others with no potential at all. The evolution of these scalars is of great interest. Their late time values have a direct impact on low energy observables, while their early universe dynamics can potentially source inflation or adversely affect big bang nucleosynthesis. Recently, classical and quantum methods for fixing the values of these scalars have been introduced. The purpose of this work is to explore moduli dynamics in light of these stabilization mechanisms. In particular, we explore a truncated low energy effective action that models the neighborhood of special points (or more generally loci) in moduli space, such as conifold points, where extra massless degrees of freedom arise. We find that the dynamics has a surprisingly rich structure - including the appearance of chaos - and we find a viable mechanism for trapping some of the moduli.