Abstract
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 examples of inflationary potentials that can accommodate all cosmic microwave background observables and in which the inflaton dark matter candidate has a weak scale mass. As a simple example, we consider annihilations that take place through a Higgs portal interaction, leading to encouraging prospects for future direct detection experiments.
Highlights
We show that inflaton annihilations can efficiently reheat the Universe, and identify several examples of inflationary potentials that can accommodate all cosmic microwave background observables and in which the inflaton dark matter candidate has a weak scale mass
We present a wide range of inflationary scenarios in which the inflaton can play the role of a thermal relic that serves as a viable dark matter candidate
Summary and conclusions.—In this Letter, we have considered a range of WIMPflation scenarios, in which the inflaton serves as a viable dark matter candidate
Summary
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 explore a broad class of models in which the field responsible for inflation (i.e., the inflaton) is a stable particle whose population freezes out of thermal equilibrium in the early Universe to constitute the dark matter. We refer to this scenario as WIMPflation. In order for the inflaton to be a thermal dark matter candidate, it must be stable and it must freeze out of equilibrium in the early Universe to yield an acceptable relic abundance This requires the dark matter to possess interactions that allow it to annihilate with a cross section of approximately σv ≈ 2 × 10−26 cm3=s and to have a mass between approximately 10 MeV and 100 TeV. The dynamics of φ are described by the following Lagrangian: L
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