Conifold dynamics and axion monodromies

Abstract

It has recently been appreciated that the conifold modulus plays an important role in string-phenomenological set-ups involving warped throats, both by imposing constraints on model building and for obtaining a 10-dimensional picture of SUSY-breaking. In this note, we point out that the stability of the conifold modulus furthermore prevents large super- Planckian axion monodromy field ranges caused by brane-flux decay processes down warped throats. Our findings imply a significant challenge for concrete string theory embeddings of the inflationary flux-unwinding scenario.