Flattened 5-brane axion monodromy in the large volume scenario

After a quick review of the fundamentals of N = 1 supergravity theories and inflationary cosmology, we focus on a class of promising inflation models built within the framework of warped compactifications of type IIB string theory on Calabi-Yau orientifolds. In these models the inflaton is an orientifold-odd closed string axion whose potential is induced by an NS5-brane wrapped on a 2-cycle of the compactification space. This system enjoys a monodromy property that breaks the periodic nature of the axion potential, generating a linear axion potential that can drive inflation with the prediction of large primordial tensor modes. We show that this class of models can be combined with successful moduli stabilization in the Large Volume Scenario improving both their theoretical robustness and the accordance of their predictions with current bounds from CMB observations. A crucial effect which we exploit is the flattening of the axion potential due to the moduli backreaction.