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Twisted Inflation

We present a new mechanism for slow-roll inflation based on higher dimensional supersymmetric gauge theory compactified to four dimensions with twisted (supersymmetry breaking) boundary conditions. These boundary conditions lead to a potential for directions in field space that would have been flat were supersymmetry preserved. For field values in these directions much larger than the supersymmetry-breaking scale, the flatness of the potential is nearly restored. Starting in this nearly flat region, inflation can occur as the theory relaxes towards the origin of field space. Near the origin, the potential becomes steep and the theory quickly descends to a confining gauge theory in which the inflaton does not exist as a particle. This confining gauge theory could be part of the Standard Model (QCD) or a natural dark matter sector; we comment on various scenarios for reheating. As a specific illustration of this mechanism, we discuss 4+1 dimensional maximally supersymmetric gauge theory on a circle with antiperiodic boundary conditions for fermions. When the theory is weakly coupled at the compactification scale, we calculate the inflaton potential directly in field theory by integra