Dynamical inflation and unification scale on quantum moduli spaces

Abstract

We show that simple strongly coupled supersymmetric gauge theories with quantum moduli spaces can naturally lead to hybrid inflation. These theories contain no input dimensionful or small parameters. The effective superpotential is linear in the inflaton field; this ensures that supergravity corrections do not spoil the slow roll conditions for inflation. We construct a simple theory in which the classical moduli space exhibits neither GUT-symmetry-breaking nor inflation whereas its quantum modification exhibits both. As a result, the dynamical origin and scales of inflation and grand unification coincide.