Inflaton fragmentation: Emergence of pseudo-stable inflaton lumps (oscillons) after inflation

Abstract

We investigate the emergence of large, localized, pseudo-stable configurations (oscillons) from inflaton fragmentation at the end of inflation. We predict the number density of large oscillons, and the conditions necessary for their emergence in a class of inflationary models. Analytic estimates are provided for a 3+1 and 1+1-dimensional universe. We test our predictions with detailed numerical simulations in 1+1-dimensions. We see a zoo of oscillons emerging from the simulations, including the usual small amplitude "sech" oscillons as well as large "flat-topped" oscillons. The emergent oscillons account for approximately 80 per cent of the energy density of the inflaton.

This is v2, updated references, submitted to Phys. Rev. D. Animations based on 1+1d numerical simulations available at http://www.mit.edu/~mamin/www/oscillons.html

References in corpus (13)

• Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inflation
• Theory and Numerics of Gravitational Waves from Preheating after Inflation
• Quantum Radiation of Oscillons
• Flat-top oscillons in an expanding universe
• Dynamical and Gravitational Instability of Oscillating-Field Dark Energy and Dark Matter
• Gravitational Waves From the End of Inflation: Computational Strategies
• Emergence of Oscillons in an Expanding Background
• Analytical Characterization of Oscillon Energy and Lifetime
• Gravitational waves from fragmentation of a primordial scalar condensate into Q-balls
• Numerical Investigations of Oscillons in 2 Dimensions
• A Phase Transition in U(1) Configuration Space: Oscillons as Remnants of Vortex-Antivortex Annihilation
• Oscillons and Domain Walls
• Long-Lived Time-Dependent Remnants During Cosmological Symmetry Breaking: From Inflation to the Electroweak Scale

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Nonperturbative Dynamics Of Reheating After Inflation: A Review
• Inflaton Fragmentation and Oscillon Formation in Three Dimensions
• Time-Scales for Nonlinear Processes in Preheating after Multifield Inflation with Nonminimal Couplings
• Beyond Schrödinger-Poisson: Nonrelativistic Effective Field Theory for Scalar Dark Matter
• Gravitational effects on oscillon lifetimes
• Primordial Black Hole Formation in Non-Standard Post-Inflationary Epochs
• Analysis of Oscillons in the SU(2) Gauged Higgs Model
• Constraints on primordial black holes for nonstandard cosmologies
• Self-resonance during preheating: The case of $\alpha$-attractor models
• Evolution of superhorizon perturbations in early Universe with anisotropic solid remnant