Particle production and reheating in the inflationary universe
arXiv:0810.2039 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.78.123526
Abstract
Thermal field theory is applied to particle production rates in inflationary models, leading to new results for catalysed, or two-stage decay, where massive fields act as decay channels for the production of light fields. A numerical investigation of the Bolztmann equation in an expanding universe shows that the particle distributions produced during small amplitude inflaton oscillations or alongside slowly moving inflaton fields can thermalise.
16 pages, 12 figures, LaTeX, extra references in v2