Constructing Flat Inflationary Potentials in Supersymmetry

Abstract

We show that in supersymmetry one can obtain inflationary potentials in the observable sector that are sufficiently flat at sub-Planckian field values. Structure of the supersymmetric scalar potential along a flat direction combined with the existence of higher order terms in an effective field theory expansion allows one to find scales below the effective field theory cut off where two or a higher number of the potential derivatives may vanish. As an explicit example, we demonstrate that inflection point inflation within a broad range of scales O(TeV) << H < 3 x 10^9 GeV can be accommodated within weak scale supersymmetry. The fine tuning of model parameters needed for successful inflation is considerably improved in this scenario.