https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-7912-z
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
New Kähler invariant Fayet–Iliopoulos terms in supergravity and cosmological applications
1
Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Hautes Energies-LPTHE, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005, Paris, France
2
Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bern, Sidlerstrasse 5, 3012, Bern, Switzerland
* e-mail: francois.rondeau@lpthe.jussieu.fr
Received:
18
February
2020
Accepted:
6
April
2020
Published online:
29
April
2020
Recently, a new type of constant Fayet–Iliopoulos (FI) terms was introduced in 
supergravity, which do not require the gauging of the R-symmetry. We revisit and generalise these constructions, building a new class of Kähler invariant FI terms parametrised by a function of the gravitino mass as functional of the chiral superfields, which is then used to describe new models of inflation. They are based on a no-scale supergravity model of the inflaton chiral multiplet, supplemented by an abelian vector multiplet with the new FI-term. We show that the inflaton potential is compatible with the CMB observational data, with a vacuum energy at the minimum that can be tuned to a tiny positive value. Finally, the axionic shift symmetry can be gauged by the U(1) which becomes massive. These models offer a mechanism for fixing the gravitino mass in no-scale supergravities, that corresponds to a flat direction of the scalar potential in the absence of the new FI-term; its origin in string theory is an interesting open problem.
© The Author(s), 2020
