Eternal inflation with α′-corrections

Higher-order α ′-corrections are a generic feature of type IIB string compactifications. In KKLT-like models of moduli stabilization they provide a mechanism of breaking the noscale structure of the volume modulus. We present a model of inflation driven by the volume modulus of flux compactifications of the type IIB superstring. Using the effects of gaugino condensation on D7-branes and perturbative α ′-corrections the volume modulus can be stabilized in a scalar potential which simultaneously contains saddle points providing slow-roll inflation with about 130 e-foldings. We can accommodate the WMAP data with a spectral index of density fluctuations ns = 0.93. Our model allows for eternal inflation providing the String theory at present is the only candidate for a unified quantum theory of all interactions that simultaneously provides for a UV-finite description of quantum gravity. However, there is rich internal structure already in 10 dimensions and the tremendously large number of possible compactifications to 4d (roughly 10 500 according to a recent estimate [1,2]).