Hybrid inflation, reheating and dark radiation in a IIB perturbative moduli stabilization scenario

Abstract

We study the cosmological implications of an effective field theory model derived within a configuration of D7 brane stacks in the framework of type-IIB string theory. We consider a suitable geometric setup where the Kähler moduli fields are stabilized and the parametric space is constrained so that a de Sitter vacuum is ensured. In addition to the moduli fields we also take into account the usual Higgs and matter fields included in the effective field theory. In this background, we implement the standard hybrid inflation scenario with a singlet scalar field acting as the inflaton and the Higgs states serving as waterfall fields. Radiative corrections and soft supersymmetry breaking terms play an essential role in the realization of a successful inflationary scenario consistent with the present cosmological data. Small tensor-to-scalar ratio values are predicted, which can be probed in future planned experiments. Further constraints on the model’s parameters are derived from bounds on dark radiation which is measured as a contribution to the effective number of neutrino species Neff. In particular, we find an excess of ∆Neff ≤ 0.95 at 2σ confidence level with natural values of the involved couplings.