Implications of time-dependent inflaton decay on reheating and dark matter production

Abstract

We discuss the production of radiation and dark matter assuming a time-dependent inflaton decay rate during the reheating period. It is shown that the time dependence of the inflaton decay rate can substantially modify the reheating dynamics. As an illustration, a leading interaction between the inflaton $\varphi$ and the Higgs doublet $\mathbf{h}$ of the form $\varphi |\mathbf{h}{|}^2$ was adopted. In the presence of such interaction, the Higgs doublet acquires a $\varphi$-dependent mass which generates vacuum-expectation-value due to inflaton oscillations and breaks the Standard Model gauge symmetry. This leads to a time-dependent inflaton decay rate during the reheating period, and consequently, the production of radiation and dark matter during this period is modified. Regions of the parameter space that describe the observed value of the dark matter abundance were found and compared with the standard case when inflaton the decay rate is constant.

arXiv commentv2: 8 pages and 2 figures; improved discussion on inflaton-induced gravitational production of dark matter; matches the published version

References in corpus (30)

• Towards the Theory of Reheating After Inflation
• Universe Reheating after Inflation
• The Waning of the WIMP? A Review of Models, Searches, and Constraints
• Universality Class in Conformal Inflation
• Largest temperature of the radiation era and its cosmological implications
• Vector Dark Matter from Inflationary Fluctuations
• Superheavy dark matter
• Production of massive particles during reheating
• Planckian Interacting Massive Particles as Dark Matter
• Reheating and Post-inflationary Production of Dark Matter
• Non-Gaussianity, Spectral Index and Tensor Modes in Mixed Inflaton and Curvaton Models
• Spin-2 Portal Dark Matter
• Gravitational Production of Dark Matter during Reheating
• Dark Matter Production in Late Time Reheating
• On Thermal Gravitational Contribution to Particle Production and Dark Matter
• Superheavy dark matter through Higgs portal operators
• Ultraviolet Freeze-in and Non-Standard Cosmologies
• Gravitational portals in the early Universe
• Misalignment & Co.: (Pseudo-)scalar and vector dark matter with curvature couplings
• Gravitational particle creation for dark matter and reheating
• Gravitational reheating
• Dark matter from scalar field fluctuations
• On UltraViolet Freeze-in Dark Matter during Reheating
• Lightish but clumpy: scalar dark matter from inflationary fluctuations
• Gravitational Production of Superheavy Dark Matter and Associated Cosmological Signatures
• Superheavy scalar dark matter from gravitational particle production in $\alpha$-attractor models of inflation
• Ultraviolet Freeze-in with a Time-dependent Inflaton Decay
• Higgs boson induced reheating and ultraviolet frozen-in dark matter
• Higgscitement: Cosmological Dynamics of Fine Tuning
• Dark QED from Inflation

Cited by in corpus (16)

• WIMPs, FIMPs, and Inflaton phenomenology via reheating, CMB and $\Delta N_{eff}$
• Ultraviolet Freeze-in with a Time-dependent Inflaton Decay
• WIMPs during Reheating
• From WIMPs to FIMPs with Low Reheating Temperatures
• Higgs boson induced reheating and ultraviolet frozen-in dark matter
• Measuring Inflaton Couplings via Primordial Gravitational Waves
• Confronting Dark Matter Freeze-In during Reheating with Constraints from Inflation
• Dark Matter Axions in the Early Universe with a Period of Increasing Temperature
• Post-Inflationary Dark Matter Bremsstrahlung
• Dissipation of oscillating scalar backgrounds in an FLRW universe
• Lepton collider as a window to reheating via freezing in dark matter detection. Part II
• Fate of homogeneous ${\mathbb{Z}}_2$-symmetric scalar condensates
• NSC++: Non-Standard Cosmologies in C++
• Fingerprints of freeze-in dark matter in an early matter-dominated era
• Decay of a scalar condensate in two different approaches
• CPT Violation, Mirror World and Implications for Baryon Asymmetry