Related papers: Reheating and Thermalization, Linear Vs. Non-Linea…
We consider the non-equilibrium evolution of the inflaton field coupled to both lighter scalars and fermions. The dissipational dynamics of this field is studied and found to be quite different than that believed in inflationary models. In…
The reheating stage in post-inflationary cosmologies is reanalyzed. New techniques from non-equilibrium quantum field theory allow a consistent derivation of the equation of motion including the non-linearity of the dynamics. These offer a…
Inflation has long been the accepted paradigm for understanding the early universe. Most models of inflation have a scalar field acting as the inflaton particle which decays after inflation during a process called reheating into standard…
We study the problem of scalar particle production after inflation by a rapidly oscillating inflaton field. We use the framework of the chaotic inflation scenario with quartic and quadratic inflaton potentials. Particular attention is paid…
The theory of reheating of the Universe after inflation is developed. The transition from inflation to the hot Universe turns out to be strongly model-dependent and typically consists of several stages. Immediately after inflation the field…
In the presence of self-interactions, the post-inflationary evolution of the inflaton field is driven into the non-linear regime by the resonant growth of its fluctuations. The once spatially homogeneous coherent inflaton is converted into…
We calculate the relaxation rate of a scalar field in a plasma of other scalars and fermions with gauge interactions using thermal quantum field theory. It yields the rate of cosmic reheating and thereby determines the temperature of the…
It is assumed that during inflation, all energy was contained in a slow-rolling inflaton field $\phi$. The particles constituting the Universe are created due to interactions with the field $\phi$ coherently oscillating after inflation. The…
In the standard picture, the inflationary universe is in a supercooled state which ends with a short time, large scale reheating period, after which the universe goes into a radiation dominated stage. An alternative is proposed here in…
Thermal field theory is applied to particle production rates in inflationary models, leading to new results for catalysed, or two-stage decay, where massive fields act as decay channels for the production of light fields. A numerical…
The paradigm of the inflationary universe provides a possible explanation for several observed cosmological properties. In order for such solutions to be successful, the universe must convert the energy stored in the inflaton potential into…
We study the post-inflationary energy transfer from the inflaton ($\phi$) into a scalar field ($\chi$) non-minimally coupled to gravity through $\xi R|\chi|^2$, considering models with inflaton potential $V_{\rm inf} \propto |\phi|^{\,p}$…
In inflationary cosmology, the particles constituting the Universe are created after inflation due to their interaction with moving inflaton field(s) in the process of preheating. In the fermionic sector, the leading channel is out-of…
Reheating is a transition era after the end of inflation, during which the inflaton is converted into the particles that populate the Universe at later times. No direct cosmological observables are normally traceable to this period of…
During (re)heating of the universe after inflation, the relativistic decay products of the inflaton field $\phi$ must lose energy and additional particles must be produced to attain a thermalised state at a temperature $T_{\reh}$. We…
Reheating after inflation occurs due to particle production by the oscillating inflaton field. In this paper we describe the perturbative approach to reheating, and then concentrate on effects beyond the perturbation theory. They are…
Coherent oscillations of the inflaton field at the end of inflation can parametrically excite fermions in much the same way that bosons are created in preheating. Although Pauli-blocking prohibits the occupation number of created fermions…
We study inflationary models in which the effective potential of the inflaton field does not have a minimum, but rather gradually decreases at large $\phi$. In such models the inflaton field does not oscillate after inflation, and its…
We consider one-loop thermal effects on the decay of a scalar field zero mode initially dominating the energy density of the universe. We assume fermionic decay channels and take into account the effects due to both particle and hole…
The inflationary dynamics and preheating in a model with a non-minimally coupled inflaton field in the metric and Palatini formalisms are studied in this paper. We find that in both formalisms, irrespective of the initial conditions, our…