"Old" Locked Inflation

Abstract

In this paper, we revisit the idea of locked inflation, which does not require a potential satisfying the normal slow-roll condition, but suffers from the problems associated with "saddle inflation". We propose a scenario based on locked inflation, however, with an alternative evolution mechanism of the "waterfall field" $\phi$. Instead of rolling down along the potential, the $\phi$ field will tunnel to end the inflation stage like in old inflation, by which the saddle inflation could be avoided. Further, we study a cascade of old locked inflation, which can be motivated by the string landscape. Our model is based on the consideration of making locked inflation feasible so as to give a working model without slow roll; It also can be seen as an effort to embed the old inflation in string landscape.