Chiral gravitational waves and primordial black holes in UV-protected
  Natural Inflation
  We consider an UV-protected Natural Inflation scenario involving
Chern-Simons-like interactions between the inflaton and some beyond the
Standard Model gauge fields. The accelerated expansion of the Universe is
supported by a combination of a gravitationally-enhanced friction sensitive to
the scale of inflation and quantum friction effects associated with the
explosive production of gauge fluctuations. The synergy of these two
velocity-restraining mechanisms allows for: $i)$ Natural Inflation potentials
involving only sub-Planckian coupling constants, $ii)$ the generation of a dark
matter component in the form of primordial black holes, and $iii)$ a
potentially observable background of chiral gravitational waves at small
scales.
