https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-8412-x
Regular Article - Theoretical Physics
Eternal inflation, entropy bounds and the swampland
1
Physics Department, McGill University, H3A 2T8, Montreal, QC, Canada
2
Institute for Theoretical Physics, ETH Zurich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27, 8093, Zurich, Switzerland
Received:
14
October
2019
Accepted:
27
August
2020
Published online:
19
September
2020
It has been suggested that low energy effective field theories should satisfy given conditions in order to be successfully embedded into string theory. In the case of a single canonically normalized scalar field this translates into conditions on its potential and the derivatives thereof. In this Letter we revisit small field hilltop models of eternal inflation including stochastic effects and study the compatibility of the swampland constraints with entropy considerations. We show that these stochastic inflation scenarios either violate entropy bounds or the swampland criterion on the slope of the scalar field potential. Furthermore, we illustrate that such models are faced with a graceful exit problem: any patch of space which exits the region of eternal inflation is either not large enough to explain the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background, or has a spectrum of fluctuations with an unacceptably large red tilt.
© The Author(s) 2020
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