Closer towards inflation in string theory

In brane inflation, the relative brane position in the bulk of a brane world is the inflaton. For branes moving in a compact manifold, the approximate translational (or shift) symmetry is necessary to suppress the inflaton mass, which then allows a slow-roll phase for enough inflation. Following recent works, we discuss how inflation may be achieved in superstring theory. Imposing the shift symmetry, we obtain the condition on the superpotential needed for inflation and suggest how this condition may be naturally satisfied. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.