Related papers: Scalar Field Fluctuations and the Production of Da…
We study the phenomenon of gravitational particle production as applied to a scalar spectator field in the context of $\alpha$-attractor inflation. Assuming that the scalar has a minimal coupling to gravity, we calculate the abundance of…
Nowadays cosmological inflation is the most accepted mechanism to explain the primordial seeds that led to the structure formation observed in the Universe. Current observations are in well agreement to initial adiabatic conditions, which…
We investigate the out-of-equilibrium production of scalar dark matter (DM) from the inflaton condensate during inflation and reheating. We assume that this scalar couples only to the inflaton via a direct quartic coupling and is minimally…
We study the effects on particle production of a Planck-suppressed coupling between the inflaton and a scalar dark matter candidate, $\chi$. In the absence of this coupling, the dominant source for the relic density of $\chi$ is the long…
The observed dark matter abundance in the Universe can be fully accounted for by a minimally coupled spectator scalar field that was light during inflation and has sufficiently strong self-coupling. In this scenario, dark matter was…
We investigate the production of a spectator scalar dark matter field that is directly coupled to the inflaton during inflation and reheating. We consider two specific inflationary potentials, namely the Starobinsky and T-model of…
Light scalar fields acquire isocurvature fluctuations during inflation. While these fluctuations could lead to interesting observable signatures at small scales, they are strongly constrained on large scales by cosmic microwave background…
We present a scenario where a $Z_2$-symmetric scalar field $\phi$ first drives cosmic inflation, then reheats the Universe but remains out-of-equilibrium itself, and finally comprises the observed dark matter abundance, produced by particle…
We present a model where inflation and Dark Matter takes place via a single scalar field phi. Without introducing any new parameters we are able unify inflation and Dark Matter using a scalar field phi that accounts for inflation at an…
Gravity takes care of both inflation and subsequent reheating in Starobinsky's R^2-model. The latter is due to inflaton gravitation decays dominated by scalar particle production. It is tempting to suggest that dark matter particles are…
It is well known that light scalar fields present during inflation are coherently excited. We show that if the field couples to gravity in a non-minimal way, the fluctuations at large scales are suppressed with respect to the small scales…
We show that the present dark matter abundance can be accounted for by an oscillating scalar field that acquires both mass and a non-zero expectation value from interactions with the Higgs field. The dark matter scalar field can be…
We study the inflationary model with a spectator scalar field $\chi$ coupled to both the inflaton and Ricci scalar. The interaction between the $\chi$ field and the gravity, denoted by $\xi R\chi^2$, can trigger the tachyonic instability of…
We extend the framework of spontaneous baryogenesis by investigating the generation of baryon asymmetry when the inflaton, $\theta$, is minimally coupled with a complex spectator scalar field $\phi$, as $\theta^2|\phi|^2$. To do so, we also…
We discuss a minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM) where a single real scalar field serves as both inflaton and dark matter. The corresponding Lagrangian contains the renormalizable interactions of the inflaton field. Quantum effects…
We study post-inflationary evolution in $\alpha$-attractor T-models of inflation. We consider the dynamics of both scalar fields present in these models: the inflaton and the spectator, as a negative field-space curvature may lead to…
It has recently been shown [1] that light vector particles produced from inflationary fluctuations can give rise to the dark matter in the Universe. A similar mechanism has been discussed in [2] for a non-minimally coupled scalar enjoying a…
Gravitational production of decoupled scalars during inflationary and post-inflationary phases is efficient and can lead to over-production. We study this production with various reheating scenarios such as a generic power-law inflaton…
We consider the implications of a scalar field interacting with the dark matter fluid on the energy spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves. We choose an interaction type which before a critical matter density $\rho_m^c$ during the…
We study the viability of a complex scalar field $\chi$ with self-interacting potential $ V = m^\chi_0/2 \, |\chi|^2 + h \, |\chi|^4$ as dark matter. The scalar field is produced at reheating through the decay of the inflaton field and…