Related papers: Reheating dynamics affects non-perturbative decay …
We consider the possibility of an oscillating scalar field accounting for dark matter and dynamically controlling the spontaneous breaking of the electroweak symmetry through a Higgs-portal coupling. This requires a late decay of the…
We revisit spectator field models including curvaton and modulated reheating scenarios, specifically focusing on their viability in the new Planck era, based on the derived expression for the spectral index in general spectator field…
We investigate the non-perturbative production of scalar particles within the Higgs-$R^2$ inflation model, focusing on a massive spectator field that interacts gravitationally via a non-minimal coupling to the Ricci scalar $R$. By…
We investigate a novel reheating scenario proceeding through $s$-channel inflaton annihilation, mediated by a massive scalar. If the inflaton $\phi$ oscillates around the minimum of a monomial potential $\propto \phi^{n}$, we reveal the…
The quantum fluctuations of the Higgs field during inflation could be a source of primordial density perturbations through Higgs-dependent inflaton decay. By measuring primordial non-Gaussianities, this so-called Higgs-modulated reheating…
We review the dynamics of spectator scalar fields non-minimally coupled to gravity in the post-inflationary Universe, with particular emphasis on scenarios where the end of inflation is followed by a period of kination. In this context, the…
We review recent progress in the understanding of the preheating stage of Higgs inflation formulated within the Einstein-Cartan framework of gravity. This setup smoothly interpolates between the metric and Palatini formulations of the…
We show that the dynamics of the Higgs field during inflation is not affected by metric fluctuations if the Higgs is an energetically subdominant light spectator. For Standard Model parameters we find that couplings between Higgs and metric…
The dynamics of both the preinflationary and the preheating epochs for a model consisting of a Higgs inflaton plus an additional auxiliary field are studied in full General Relativity. The minimally coupled auxiliary field allows for…
We investigate the enhancement of the curvature perturbations in a single-field slow-roll inflation with a spectator scalar field kinetically coupled to the inflaton. The coupling term with a periodic function of inflaton triggers the…
The Chern-Simons gravitational term is typically coupled to the inflaton field during inflation. In this work, we explore an alternative scenario where the Chern-Simons term is minimally coupled to a massive spectator field, $\sigma$,…
During a de Sitter stage of expansion the spectator fields of different spin are constrained by the critical density bound and by further requirements determined by their specific physical nature. The evolution of spectator electric fields…
There might be a light scalar field during inflation which is not responsible for the accelerating inflationary expansion. Then, its quantum fluctuation is stretched during inflation. This scalar field could be a curvaton, if it decays at a…
We study geometrical destabilization of inflation with the aim of determining the fate of excited unstable modes. We use numerical lattice simulations to track the dynamics of both the inflaton and the spectator field. We find that…
In Higgs-otic inflation a complex neutral scalar combination of the $h^0$ and $H^0$ MSSM Higgs fields plays the role of inflaton in a chaotic fashion. The potential is protected from large trans-Planckian corrections at large inflaton if…
We analyze in detail the perturbative decay of the inflaton oscillating about a generic form of its potential $V(\phi) = \phi^k$, taking into account the effects of non-instantaneous reheating. We show that evolution of the temperature as a…
We present a novel mechanism for gravitational wave generation in the early Universe. Light spectator scalar fields during inflation can acquire a blue-tilted power spectrum due to stochastic effects. We show that this effect can lead to…
We compute the stochastic gravitational wave background sourced at second order by a spectator scalar field $\chi$ coupled to the inflaton $\phi$ through a portal interaction $\sigma\phi^2\chi^2$ and with quartic self-interaction…
After inflation, a period of preheating may have produced a stochastic background of high frequency gravitational waves (GWs) that would persist until today. The nature of the inflaton's coupling to Standard Model or other fields is…
The damping process of a homogeneous oscillating scalar field that indirectly interacts with a thermal bath through a mediator field is investigated over a wide range of model parameters. We consider two types of mediator fields, those that…