BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
BEGIN:VEVENT
SEQUENCE:0
UID:UW-Physics-Event-3701
DTSTART:20150414T210000Z
DTEND:20150414T220000Z
DTSTAMP:20260314T081138Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20150413T082204Z
LOCATION:5280 Chamberlin Hall
SUMMARY:Natural Inflation and the Weak Gravity Conjecture\, Theory Sem
 inar (High Energy/Cosmology)\, William Cottrell\, University of Wiscon
 sin
DESCRIPTION:Attempts to provide a UV complete model for inflation gene
 rically encounter large quantum corrections which spoil the flatness o
 f the inflaton potential.  A standard method to work around this\, kno
 wn as 'natural inflation' attempts to use axions as inflatons since th
 ey enjoy a perturbative shift symmetry and thus can naturally have ver
 y flat potentials.  However\, we will argue that such theories of infl
 ation are ruled out by the weak gravity conjecture.  More precisely\, 
 we will show that models with natural inflation are analogous to theor
 ies which allow black hole remnants and are thus highly disfavored.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=3701
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR