Planckian axions in string theory

Abstract: We argue that super-Planckian diameters of axion fundamental domains can naturally arise in Calabi-Yau compactifications of string theory. In a theory with

N

axions

h e t a^{i}

, the fundamental domain is a polytope defined by the periodicities of the axions, via constraints of the form

- p i < Q_{j}^{i} h e t a^{j} < p i

. We compute the diameter of the fundamental domain in terms of the eigenvalues

f_{1}^{2} l e ... l e f_{N}^{2}

of the metric on field space, and also, crucially, the largest eigenvalue of

(Q Q^{o p})^{- 1}

. At large

N

,

Q Q^{o p}

approaches a Wishart matrix, due to universality, and we show that the diameter is at least

N f_{N}

, exceeding the naive Pythagorean range by a factor

> s q r t N

. This result is robust in the presence of

P > N

constraints, while for

P = N

the diameter is further enhanced by eigenvector delocalization to

N^{3 / 2} f_{N}

. We directly verify our results in explicit Calabi-Yau compactifications of type IIB string theory. In the classic example with

h^{1, 1} = 51

where parametrically controlled moduli stabilization was demonstrated by Denef et al. in [1], the largest metric eigenvalue obeys

f_{N} a p p r o x 0.013 M_{p l}

. The random matrix analysis then predicts, and we exhibit, axion diameters

> M_{p l}

for the precise vacuum parameters found in [1]. Our results provide a framework for achieving large-field axion inflation in well-understood flux vacua.

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