Naturally inflating on steep potentials through electromagnetic dissipation

In models of natural inflation, the inflaton is an axionlike particle. Unfortunately, axion potentials in UV-complete theories appear to be too steep to drive inflation. We show that, even for a steep potential, natural inflation can occur if the coupling between axion and gauge fields is taken into account. Because of this coupling, quanta of the gauge field are produced by the rolling of the axion. If the coupling is large enough, such a dissipative effect slows down the axion, leading to inflation even for a steep potential. The spectrum of perturbations is quasiscale invariant, but in the simplest construction its amplitude is larger than 10(-5). We discuss a possible way out of this problem.