Deriving the Inflaton in Compactified M-theory with a De Sitter Vacuum

Understand

Compactifying M-theory on a manifold of $G_2$ holonomy gives a UV complete 4D theory.

• It is supersymmetric, with soft supersymmetry breaking via gaugino condensation that simultaneously stabilizes all moduli and generates a hierarchy between the Planck and the Fermi scale.
• It generically has gauge matter, chiral fermions, and several other important features of our world.
• Here we show that the theory also contains a successful inflaton, which is a linear combination of moduli closely aligned with the overall volume modulus of the compactified $G_2$ manifold.