Advances in Inflation in String Theory

Understand

We provide a pedagogical overview of inflation in string theory.

• Our theme is the sensitivity of inflation to Planck-scale physics, which we argue provides both the primary motivation and the central theoretical challenge for the subject.
• We illustrate these issues through two case studies of inflationary scenarios in string theory: warped D-brane inflation and axion monodromy inflation.
• Finally, we indicate how future observations can test scenarios of inflation in string theory.