The Universe after inflation: The Wide resonance case

Aug, 1996
12 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Lett.B 390 (1997) 80-86
e-Print:
Report number:
  • PURD-TH-96-06,
  • OSU-TA-20-96

Citations per year

1996200320102017202405101520
Abstract:
We study numerically the decay of massive and massless inflatons into massive excitations, via a ϕ 2X 2\phi~2 X~2 coupling, in the expanding Universe. We find that a wide enough resonance can survive the Universe expansion, though account for the expansion is very important for determining precisely how wide it should be. For a massive inflaton, the effective production of particles with mass ten times that of the inflaton requires very large values of the resonance parameter qq, q\gsim 10~8. For these large qq, the maximal size of produced fluctuations is significantly suppressed by the back reaction, but at least within the Hartree approximation they are still not negligible. For the massless inflaton with a λϕ 4/4\lambda\phi~4/4 potential, the Universe expansion completely prevents a resonance production of particles with masses larger than λϕ(0)\sqrt{\lambda}\phi(0) for qq up to q=10 6q=10~6.
  • 98.80.Cq
  • 05.70.Fh
  • inflation
  • postulated particle: inflaton
  • decay: inflaton
  • resonance
  • particle: production
  • Hartree approximation
  • field theory: fluctuation
  • effect: back reaction