Inflaton freeze-out
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
2022-08-30 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
Abstract
We study the possibility that, after inflation, the inflaton reaches thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model thermal bath and eventually freezes-out in the non-relativistic regime. When the inflaton decay is the sole source of (non-thermal) dark matter, its relic density is automatically suppressed. We delineate parameter space leading to the correct dark matter abundance. The model allows for a significant Higgs-inflaton coupling which may lead to invisible Higgs decay into inflaton pairs at the LHC.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2110.05488,
title = {Inflaton freeze-out},
author = {Oleg Lebedev and Thomas Nerdi and Timofey Solomko and Jong-Hyun Yoon},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2110.05488},
year = {2022}
}
Comments
14 pages, 3 figures; v2: matches version published in PRD (extended discussions, fixed typos, updated references)