paper

Post-inflationary structure formation boosted by parametric self-resonance

arXiv:2311.08780 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.109.043521

Abstract

The post-inflationary Universe can pass through a long epoch of effective matter-dominated expansion. This era may allow for both the parametric amplification of initial fluctuations and the gravitational collapse of inflaton perturbations. We perform first-of-their-kind high-resolution simulations that span the resonant phase and the subsequent gravitational collapse of the inflaton field by seguing from a full Klein-Gordon treatment of resonance to a computationally efficient Schrödinger-Poisson description that accurately captures the gravitational dynamics when most quanta are nonrelativistic. We consider a representative example in which resonance generates overdensities and gravitational collapse follows promptly as resonance ends. We observe the formation of solitonic cores inside inflaton halos and complex gravitational dynamics on scales of , greatly extending the possible scope of nonlinear post-inflationary gravitational dynamics.

arXiv comment11 pages, 8 figures, matches version accepted in Phys Rev D

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