Assisted inflation via tachyon condensation

Anupam Mazumdar, Sudhakar Panda, Abdel Pérez-Lorenzana

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new mechanism of inflating the Universe with non-BPS D4 branes which decay into stable D3 branes via tachyon condensation. In a single brane scenario the tachyon potential is very steep and unable to support inflation. However if the universe lives in a stack of branes produced by a set of non-interacting unstable D4~ branes, then the associated set of tachyons may drive inflation along our 3 spatial dimensions. After tachyon condensation the Universe is imagined to be filled with a set of parallel stable D3 branes. We study the scalar density perturbations and reheating within this setup.

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/S0550-3213%2801%2900410-2