Inflationary solution to the strong CP and μ problems

We show that the vacuum expectation value of the inflaton at the Peccei-Quinn axion scale can generate the supersymmetric Higgs mass mu term. This provides an inflationary simultaneous solution to the strong CP problem and the mu problem of the minimal supersymmetric Standard Model, and gives a testable prediction for the mu parameter: mu(2) approximate to (0.25-0.5)m(0)(2), where m(0) is the soft Higgs scalar mass. Our model involves a very small Yukawa coupling of order 10(-10), which could originate from an extra-dimensional scenario or type I string theory. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.