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Paper   IPM / P / 9536
School of Physics
  Title:   M-Flation: Inflation From Matrix Valued Scalar Fields
  Author(s): 
1.  Amjad Ashoorioon
2.  Hassan Firouzjahi
3.  M.M. Sheikh-Jabbari
  Status:   Published
  Journal: JCAP
  Vol.:  06
  Year:  2009
  Pages:   018
  Supported by:  IPM
  Abstract:
We propose an inflationary scenario, M-flation, in which inflation is driven by three N×N hermitian matrices Φii=1,2,3. The inflationary potential is constructed from Φi and their commutators which is strongly motivated from string theory. We show that one can consistently restrict the classical dynamics to a sector in which the Φi are proportional to the N×N irreducible representation of SU(2). In this sector our model effectively behaves as an N-flation model with 3 N2 number of fields, and therefore removes the fine-tunings associated with super-Planckian field and/or unnaturally small couplings in the chaotic type inflationary scenarios. Due to the matrix nature of the inflaton fields these extra 3N2−1 scalar fields also affect the inflationary dynamics. These have the observational effects such as production of entropy (non-adiabatic) perturbations on cosmic microwave background. Moreover, the existence of these other scalars provides us with a natural preheating mechanism and exit from inflation. As the effective inflaton can traverse super-Planckian distances in the field space, the model is capable of producing a considerable amount of gravity waves that can be probed by future CMB polarization experiments such as PLANCK, QUIET and CMBPOL.

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