Catastrophic Inflation in the Axiverse

[2608.14780] Catastrophic Inflation in the Axiverse Skip to main content Search Submit Donate Log in Search arXiv Press Enter to search · Advanced search High Energy Physics - Theory arXiv:2608.14780 (hep-th) [Submitted on 14 Aug 2026] Title: Catastrophic Inflation in the Axiverse Authors: Naomi Gendler , Oliver Janssen , Matthew Kleban , Cameron Norton View a PDF of the paper titled Catastrophic Inflation in the Axiverse, by Naomi Gendler and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: In the landscape of compactifications of type IIB string theory on O3/O7 orientifolds of Calabi--Yau threefolds, we identify regions of the axion potential in specific geometries that support small-field inflation, under the assumption that the overall Calabi--Yau volume can be stabilized at certain tuned values. At the tuned volume multiple critical points of the axion potential merge in a ``catastrophe'', creating a region with small gradient and small Hessian determinant --- necessary conditions for slow-roll inflation. We describe an algorithm that identifies several explicit examples of these catastrophes that have small field range $f / M_{\rm Pl} \ll 1 $ yet inflate for thousands of efolds. Some examples correctly reproduce the observed spectral tilt but not the amplitude of scalar perturbations, while others reproduce the observed amplitude but with a tilt that is slightly too red. All our examples have negligible tensor perturbations and no significant non-Gaussianity generated during the slow-roll phase. Our results demonstrate that string theory axions can be the source of cosmic inflation without alignment or large field ranges, provided that the Kähler moduli can be stabilized at special values of the volume. Comments: 34 pages, 17 figures, 4 appendices Subjects: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) ; Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO) Cite as: arXiv:2608.14780 [hep-th] (or arXiv:2608.14780v1 [hep-th] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2608.14780 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite Submission history From: Cameron Norton [ view email ] [v1] Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:00:00 UTC (649 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Catastrophic Inflation in the Axiverse, by Naomi Gendler and 2 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: hep-th < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-08 Change to browse by: astro-ph astro-ph.CO References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) IArxiv recommender toggle IArxiv Recommender ( What is IArxiv? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? ) We gratefully acknowledge support from our major funders , member institutions , , and all contributors. About · Help · Contact · Subscribe · Copyright · Privacy · Accessibility · Operational Status (opens in new tab) Major funding support from

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