Universe reheating after inflation
Jul, 1994
51 pages
Published in:
- Phys.Rev.D 51 (1995) 5438-5455
e-Print:
- hep-ph/9407247 [hep-ph]
Report number:
- BROWN-HET-957
Citations per year
Abstract:
We study the problem of scalar particle production after inflation by a rapidly oscillating inflaton field. We use the framework of the chaotic inflation scenario with quartic and quadratic inflaton potentials. Particular attention is paid to parametric resonance phenomena which take place in the presence of the rapidly oscillating inflaton field. We have found that in the region of applicability of perturbation theory the effects of parametric resonance are crucial, and estimates based on first order Born approximation often underestimate the particle production. In the case of the quartic inflaton potential , the particle production process is very efficient even for small values of coupling constants. The reheating temperature of the universe in this case is times larger than the corresponding estimates based on first order Born approximation. In the case of the quadratic inflaton potential the theory predicts not only the reheating temperature but also the effective energy density of the inflaton field when it freezes out. The reheating process in this case depends crucially on the type of coupling between the inflaton and the other scalar field and on the magnitudes of the coupling constants. If the inflaton coupling to fermions and its linear (in inflaton field) coupling to scalar fields are suppressed, the inflaton field will eventually decouple from the rest of the matter. In this case of incomplete reheating, the residual inflaton oscillations may provide the (cold) dark matter of the universe.- inflation
- scalar particle: production
- production: scalar particle
- chaos
- potential: inflaton
- field theory: scalar
- Bogolyubov transformation
- resonance: effect
- effect: resonance
- Born approximation
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