Gravitational effects on oscillon lifetimes

Abstract

Many scalar field theories with attractive self-interactions support exceptionally long-lived, spatially localized and time-periodic field configurations called oscillons. A detailed study of their longevity is important for understanding their applications in cosmology. In this paper, we study gravitational effects on the decay rate and lifetime of dense oscillons, where self-interactions are more or at least equally important compared with gravitational interactions. As examples, we consider the $\alpha$-attractor T-model of inflation and the axion monodromy model, where the potentials become flatter than quadratic at large field values beyond some characteristic field distance $F$ from the minimum. For oscillons with field amplitudes of $\mathcal{O}(F)$ and for $F\ll 0.1M_{\mathrm{pl}}$, we find that their evolution is almost identical to cases where gravity is ignored. For $F\sim 0.1M_{\mathrm{pl}}$, however, including gravitational interactions reduces the lifetime slightly.

14 pages, 5 figures

References in corpus (18)

• Ultralight scalars as cosmological dark matter
• Monodromy in the CMB: Gravity Waves and String Inflation
• The Powers of Monodromy
• Dilute and dense axion stars
• Quantum Radiation of Oscillons
• Flat-top oscillons in an expanding universe
• Inflaton Fragmentation and Oscillon Formation in Three Dimensions
• Gravitational perturbations from oscillons and transients after inflation
• Gravitational Waves from Oscillons with Cuspy Potentials
• End of inflation, oscillons and matter-antimatter asymmetry
• Classical Decay Rates of Oscillons
• Emergence of Oscillons in an Expanding Background
• Numerical Investigations of Oscillons in 2 Dimensions
• Decay of I-ball/Oscillon in Classical Field Theory
• Long-Lived Time-Dependent Remnants During Cosmological Symmetry Breaking: From Inflation to the Electroweak Scale
• Inflaton fragmentation: Emergence of pseudo-stable inflaton lumps (oscillons) after inflation
• Effective theories for a nonrelativistic field in an expanding universe: Induced self-interaction, pressure, sound speed, and viscosity
• Black hole formation in relativistic Oscillaton collisions