The end of locked inflation

Abstract

We investigate the end of the inflationary period in the recently proposed scenario of locked inflation, and consider various constraints arising from density perturbations, loop corrections, parametric resonance and defect formation. We show that in a scenario where there is one long period of locked inflation, it is not possible to satisfy all of these constraints without having a period of saddle inflation afterwards, which would wipe out all observable signatures. On the other hand, if one does not insist on satisfying the loop correction constraint, saddle inflation can be avoided, but then inflation must have ended through parametric resonance.