We present a novel inflationary scenario in theories with low scale (TeV) quantum gravity, in which the standard model particles are localized on the branes whereas gravity propagates in the bulk of large extra dimensions. This inflationary scenario is natural in the brane world picture. In the lowest energy state, a number of branes sit on top of each other (or at an orientifold plane), so the vacuum energy cancels out. In the cosmological setting, some of the branes “start out” relatively displaced in the extra dimensions and the resulting vacuum energy triggers the exponential growth of the 3 non-compact dimensions. The number of e-foldings can be very large due to the very weak brane-brane interaction at large distances. In the effective four-dimensional field theory, the brane motion is described by a slowly rolling scalar field with an extremely flat plateau potential. When branes approach each other to a critical distance, the potential becomes steep and inflation ends rapidly. Then the branes “collide” and oscillate about the equilibrium point, releasing energy mostly into radiation on the branes. In this scenario, it is even possible for the electroweak Higgs field to be the inflaton.
