Linear Inflation from Running Kinetic Term in Supergravity

Abstract: We propose a class of inflation models in which the coefficient of the inflaton kinetic term rapidly changes with energy scale. This may occur especially if the inflaton moves over a long distance during inflation as in the case of large-scale inflation. The peculiar behavior of the kinetic term opens up a new way to construct an inflation model. As a concrete example we construct a linear inflation model in supergravity. It is straightforward to build a chaotic inflation model with a fractional power along the same line. Interestingly, the potential takes a different form after inflation because of the running kinetic term.