Cited by 10Cosmology and Gravitation TheoriesNoncommutative and Quantum Gravity TheoriesBlack Holes and Theoretical Physics

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 210 of the 210 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 24 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Is asymptotically safe inflation eternal?

Open access
Chojnacki, J., Krajecka, J., Kwapisz, J.H., Slowik, O., Strag, A.·2021·Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

Abstract

Recently, based on swampland considerations in string theory, the (no) eternal inflation principle has been put forward. The natural question arises whether similar conditions hold in other approaches to quantum gravity. In this article, the asymptotic safety hypothesis is considered in the context of eternal inflation. As exemplary inflationary models the SU(N) Yang-Mills in the Veneziano limit and various RG-improvements of the gravitational action are studied. The existence of UV fixed point generically flattens the potential and our findings suggest no tension between eternal inflation and asymptotic safety, both in the matter and gravitational sector in contradistinction to string theory. Moreover, the eternal inflation cannot take place in the range of applicability of effective field quantum gravity theory. We employ the analytical relations for eternal inflation to some of the models with single minima, such as Starobinsky inflation, alpha-attractors, or the RG-improved models and verify them with the massive numerical simulations. The validity of these constraints is also discussed for a multi-minima model.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

The paper studies whether eternal inflation can occur in asymptotically safe quantum gravity, using stochastic inflation, Fokker-Planck conditions, and Langevin simulations for several inflationary models. It finds no generic tension between eternal inflation and asymptotic safety, unlike string-theory swampland expectations, though eternal inflation lies outside the applicability of effective field quantum gravity in some cases.

Key findings

  • Eternal inflation is present for asymptotically flat effective potentials at large field values in asymptotically safe models, both in gravitational and matter sectors; the authors conclude there is no obstruction to the multiverse scenario in asymptotically safe models.
  • For Starobinsky inflation, the eternal-inflation threshold is estimated as \(\phi_0 = 16.7\,M_{\rm Pl}\), while 60 e-folds require \(\phi_0 = 5.5\,M_{\rm Pl}\); numerical simulations with 10,000 samples confirm the analytical prediction, and for \(\phi_0 = 3\,M_{\rm Pl}\) the decay rate is \(\Gamma \approx 0.15\) versus \(3H \sim 10^{-5}\), so inflation is not eternal.
  • In RG-improved Starobinsky inflation, for \(\Lambda=1,\alpha=1.6\) the analytical eternal-inflation threshold is \(\phi_{\rm EI}=22.6\,M_{\rm Pl}\), while the numerical simulation gives \(\Gamma=0.0001\,M_{\rm Pl}\) and \(3H=0.0003\,M_{\rm Pl}\), so eternal inflation begins slightly below the analytical value.
  • In the SU(N) Yang-Mills Veneziano-limit model, tunneling through a potential barrier provides a new eternal-inflation mechanism: for \(N_F=10,\mu=10^{-3}M_{\rm Pl},\xi=1/6,\delta=0.1\), the steepest-descent approximation gives \(R=0.92\) and the numerical simulation gives \(R=0.97\); above \(9.2\,M_{\rm Pl}\) there is non-zero probability of eternal inflation, while at \(9.2\,M_{\rm Pl}\) inflation classically produces roughly 54 e-folds.

Methods

  • The authors use stochastic inflation, the Langevin equation, and the Fokker-Planck equation to derive analytical eternal-inflation conditions, including the linear and quadratic hilltop conditions and higher-derivative conditions from Rudelius.
  • They numerically simulate the discretized Langevin equation with Gaussian noise of variance \(H^3/(4\pi^2)\delta t\), assuming constant \(H\) in slow roll, and build histograms of inflationary time; tunneling probabilities are also computed via first-passage formalism and checked with 10,000 simulations.
  • Models analyzed include \(\alpha\)-attractor T-models, Starobinsky inflation, leading-log quantum-corrected Starobinsky inflation, RG-improved quadratic gravity, and an SU(\(N_C\)) gauge theory with \(N_F\) Dirac fermions in the Veneziano limit.

Limitations

  • The paper states that eternal inflation cannot take place in the range of applicability of effective field quantum gravity theory; for the leading-log corrected Starobinsky model, eternal inflation requires \(\Phi \approx 1000\,M_{\rm Pl}\), far beyond the model’s applicability.
  • The authors state that the analytical conditions (2.23) and (2.24) are not well suited for multiple-minima models and cannot capture the full global influence of quantum fluctuations; fixed-point values and the potential shape may be obscured by quantum gravity effects, to be investigated elsewhere.
  • The numerical method assumes constant \(H\) and uses a large timeout to end long evolutions as an approximation; the authors checked that changing \(H\) from field fluctuations does not affect the eternal-inflation conclusions.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1088/1475-7516/2021/04/076

Cites

210 of 210 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

25 No basis given · 24 Own interpretation · 22 Own result · 16 Sources not found · 3 Own method

Show all 66 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 20
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 5
24 of 24
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Both the background and the fluctuations are homogeneous.

    “Hence from now on we shall assume that both background and fluctuations are homogeneous, which is the standard treatment of eternal inflation (if not otherwise specified).”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The Hubble parameter is constant and respects the slow-roll regime H = 1 M Pl V (φ 0 ) 3, where V(φ0) is the value of the potential at the start of the simulation.

    “We further assume the Hubble parameter to be constant and respecting the slow-roll regime H = 1 M Pl V (φ 0 ) 3 , where V (φ 0 ) is a value of the potential at the start of the simulation.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    θ3 = 1.

    “Following [93] we shall assume θ 3 = 1, then the transformation from the Jordan to the Einstein frame yields an effective potential [93,95]:”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Gravity admits a non-trivial UV fixed point.

    “The first type relies on the RG-improvement of the gravitational actions and is based on the asymptotic safety hypothesis that gravity admits a non-trivial UV fixed point.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    M = M_Pl.

    “We assume, that M = M Pl .”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    The system is ergodic.

    “assuming the ergodicity of the system.”
  • The authors state this as an assumption.

    Inflation is driven by a single field with slow-roll.

    “Assuming a single field slow-roll inflation, we examine inflationary predictions of the potential”
7 of 7

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

2 of 2

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Sorted by citations

See all 10

Metadata

Authors
Chojnacki, J., Krajecka, J., Kwapisz, J. H., Slowik, O., & Strag, A.
Affiliations
University of Warsaw (PL)
Corresponding author
  • Chojnacki, J.
  • Krajecka, J.
  • Strag, A.
Venue
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Published
2021-04-01
Volume
2021
Issue
04
Pages
076
ISSN
  • 1475-7508 (ISSN-L)
  • 1475-7516
OpenAlex
W3120559008
Cited by
10
References
124
Citations by year
2024: 1 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5
FWCI
1.34
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (publishedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
  • arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
Funders
Infrastruktura PL-Grid
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Cosmology and Gravitation Theories
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories
  • Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Nuclear and High Energy Physics › Black Holes and Theoretical Physics
Keywords
asymptotic safety, eternal inflation, swampland conjectures, quantum gravity, ultraviolet fixed point, Starobinsky inflation, alpha-attractors, inflationary potential

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-23, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).

A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-23 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review