SciPost Submission Page
The UV Sensitivity of Axion Monodromy Inflation
by Enrico Pajer, Dong-Gang Wang, Bowei Zhang
Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Dong-Gang Wang |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | scipost_202506_00054v2 (pdf) |
| Date submitted: | Feb. 3, 2026, 2:29 p.m. |
| Submitted by: | Dong-Gang Wang |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approaches: | Theoretical, Phenomenological |
Abstract
We revisit axion monodromy inflation in the context of UV-inspired models and point out that its cosmological observables are sensitive to heavy fields with masses far above the Hubble scale, such as the moduli of flux compactifications. By studying a string-inspired two-field extension of axion monodromy with a small turning rate, we reveal that the oscillatory modulation of the axion potential leads to continuous excitation of heavy fields during inflation when the modulation frequency exceeds the field masses. This finding challenges the conventional single-field description, heavy moduli cannot be simply integrated out. Using a full bootstrap analysis, we demonstrate that this mechanism produces cosmological collider signals that bypass the usual Boltzmann suppression for heavy masses. Specifically, we identify detectably large signatures of heavy moduli in the primordial bispectrum, offering a promising avenue for probing high-energy physics through cosmological observations.
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