Extra-dimensional Origins of Chemical Potentials at the Cosmological Collider

Abstract

We study the realization of the chemical potential mechanism in cosmological collider physics in a robust class of inflationary models arising from multiple higher-dimensional gauge fields. The rolling inflaton background corresponds to an electric field in the extra dimension in which charged particles are produced analogously to the Schwinger mechanism, while neutral particles can be produced through non-minimal interactions. We show that particles heavier than the inflationary Hubble scale can be created without Boltzmann suppression in both cases. In particular, charged Kaluza-Klein excitations can be created through minimal gauge interactions. We construct realistic models along these lines consistent with both theoretical and experimental constraints.

34 pages, 4 figures