Related papers: Reheating the Standard Model from a hidden sector
We consider scenarios where the inflaton field decays dominantly to a hidden dark matter (DM) sector. By studying the typical behavior of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs field during inflation, we derive a relation between the primordial…
If cosmic inflation was driven by an electrically neutral scalar field stable on cosmological time scales, the field necessarily constitutes all or part of dark matter (DM). We study this possibility in a scenario where the inflaton field…
We study models in which reheating happens only through non-perturbative processes. The energy transferred can be exponentially suppressed unless the inflaton is coupled to a particle with a parametrically small mass. Additionally, in some…
The standard cosmological paradigm assumes that the inflaton field becomes dynamically negligible during the post-reheating evolution of the Universe. We demonstrate that this assumption fails for a broad class of inflationary models where…
Inflation creates perturbations for the large scale structures in the universe, but it also dilutes everything. Therefore it is pertinent that the end of inflation must explain how to excite the Standard Model {\it dof} along with the dark…
The Standard Model (SM) possesses an instability at high scales that would be catastrophic during or just after inflation, and yet no new physics has been seen to alter this. Furthermore, modern developments in quantum gravity suggest that…
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…
We study models in which the inflaton is coupled to two otherwise decoupled sectors, and the effect of preheating and related processes on their energy densities during the evolution of the universe. Over most of parameter space, preheating…
We point out some of the outstanding challenges for embedding inflationary cosmology within string theory studying the process of reheating for models where the inflaton is a closed string mode parameterising the size of an internal cycle…
Spontaneous breaking of conformal symmetry has been widely exploited in successful model building of both inflationary cosmology and particle physics phenomenology. Conformal Grand Unified Theory (CGUT) inflation provides the same scalar…
If the Standard Model (SM) Higgs is weakly coupled to the inflationary sector, the Higgs is expected to be universally in the form of a condensate towards the end of inflation. The Higgs decays rapidly after inflation - via non-perturbative…
We study the role of the Standard Model Higgs condensate, formed during cosmological inflation, in the epoch of reheating that follows. We focus on the scenario where the inflaton decays slowly and perturbatively, so that there is a long…
We propose a class of models in which a stable inflaton is produced as a thermal relic in the early universe and constitutes the dark matter. We show that inflaton annihilations can efficiently reheat the universe, and identify several…
We consider models for inflation with a stable inflaton. Reheating is achieved through scattering processes such as $\phi \phi \to h h$, where $h$ is the Standard Model Higgs boson. We consider the reheating process in detail and show that…
We study the post-inflationary dynamics of the Standard Model Higgs and a real singlet scalar $s$, coupled together through a renormalizable coupling $\lambda_{sh}h^2s^2$, in a $Z_2$ symmetric model that may explain the observed dark matter…
A variety of supergravity and string models involve hidden sectors where the hidden sectors may couple feebly with the visible sectors via a variety of portals. While the coupling of the hidden sector to the visible sector is feeble its…
The most important criteria for a successful inflation are to explain the observed temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation, and exiting inflation in a vacuum where it can excite the Standard Model quarks and…
We consider an extension of the Standard Model with a singlet sector consisting of a real (pseudo)scalar and a Dirac fermion coupled with the Standard Model only via the scalar portal. We assume that the portal coupling is weak enough for…
It has recently been shown that if the dark matter is in thermal equilibrium with a sector that is highly decoupled from the Standard Model, it can freeze-out with an acceptable relic abundance, even if the dark matter is as heavy as ~1-100…
The Standard Model Higgs boson, which has previously been shown to develop an effective vacuum expectation value during inflation, can give rise to large particle masses during inflation and reheating, leading to temporary blocking of the…