Large Field Inflation Models from Higher-Dimensional Gauge Theories

Motivated by the recent detection of B-mode polarization of CMB by BICEP2 which is possibly of primordial origin, we study large field inflation models which can be obtained from higher-dimensional gauge theories. The constraints from CMB observations on the gauge theory parameters are given, and their naturalness are discussed. Among the models analyzed, Dante's Inferno model turns out to be the most preferred model in this framework.
Comment: v3: large re-editing and addition of observational constraints on axionic couplings following referee's suggestions. slight modification of title for clarity. 1+26 pages, 2 figs