Inflaton Research Articles

Production of PBHs from inflaton structures

At times prior to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, the universe could show a primordial structure formation period if dominated by a fast oscillating inflaton field during reheating. In this context, we have postulated a new mechanism of primordial black hole formation [L. E. Padilla, J. C. Hidalgo, and K. A. Malik, Phys. Rev. D, vol. 106, p. 023519, Jul 2022], that draws the analogy between an extended reheating era and the scalar field dark matter model, stipulating the gravitational collapse of inflaton halos and inflaton stars. In this paper we look at the requirements for the realization of this new mechanism. We show that a generic primordial power spectrum with a peak at small scales is most suitable for the production of a considerable number of PBHs. When such requirement is met, and if reheating lasts long enough, large populations of PBHs with $M_{\rm PBH}\sim 1~\mathrm{gram}$ may be produced. We find in particular, that the mass fraction of PBHs is orders of magnitude larger than that obtained when PBHs form via direct collapse in a universe dominated by radiation or pressure-less dust. Looking at observable implications of our findings, we explore the possibility that the PBHs component may dominate the energy density of the universe at some point after the end of reheating.

Primordial black holes from Higgs inflation with a Gauss-Bonnet coupling

Primordial black holes (PBHs) can be the source for all or a part of today's dark matter density. Inflation provides a mechanism for generating the seeds of PBHs in the presence of a temporal period where the velocity of an inflaton field $\phi$ rapidly decreases toward 0. We compute the primordial power spectra of curvature perturbations generated during Gauss-Bonnet (GB) corrected Higgs inflation in which the inflaton field has not only a nonminimal coupling to gravity but also a GB coupling. For a scalar-GB coupling exhibiting a rapid change during inflation, we show that curvature perturbations are sufficiently enhanced by the appearance of an effective potential $V_{\rm eff}(\phi)$ containing the structures of plateau-type, bump-type, and their intermediate type. We find that there are parameter spaces in which PBHs can constitute all dark matter for these three types of $V_{\rm eff}(\phi)$. In particular, models with bump- and intermediate-types give rise to the primordial scalar and tensor power spectra consistent with the recent Planck data on scales relevant to the observations of cosmic microwave background. This property is attributed to the fact that the number of e-foldings $\Delta N_c$ acquired around the bump region of $V_{\rm eff}(\phi)$ can be as small as a few, in contrast to the plateau-type where $\Delta N_c$ typically exceeds the order of 10.

Bayesian analysis for a class of α-attractor inflationary models

We perform a Bayesian study of a generalization of the basic α-attractor T model given by the potential V(ϕ) = V 0[1-sech p (ϕ/√(6α)M pl)] where ϕ is the inflaton field and the parameter α corresponds to the inverse curvature of the scalar manifold in the conformal or superconformal realizations of the attractor models. Such generalization is characterized by the power p which includes the basic or base model for p = 2. Once the priors for the parameters of the α-attractor potential are set by numerical exploration, we perform the corresponding statistical analysis for the cases p = 1, 2, 3, 4, and derive posteriors. Considering the original α-attractor potential as the base model, we calculate the evidence for our generalization, and conclude that the p = 4 model is preferred by the CMB data. We also present constraints for the parameter α. Interestingly, all the cases studied prefer a specific value for the tensor-to-scalar ratio given by r ≃ 0.0025.

Observational constraints on warm natural inflation

Warm natural inflation is studied for the case of the original cosine potential. The radiation bath during inflation induces a dissipation (friction) rate in the equation of motion for the inflaton field, which can potentially reduce the field excursion needed for an observationally viable period of inflation. We examine if the dissipation thus provides a mechanism to avoid the large decay constant f ≳ M pl of cold cosine natural inflation. Whereas temperature independent dissipation has previously been shown to alleviate the need for a trans-Planckian decay constant f, we illustrate here the difficulties of accommodating a significantly sub-Planckian decay constant (f < 10-1 M pl) for the case of a temperature dependent dissipation rate in the form Γ ∝ Tc , with c = {1,3}. Such dissipation rates represent physically well-motivated constructions in the literature. For each model, we map its location in the r-ns plane and compare with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. For c = 1 (c = 3), we find that agreement with CMB data requires that dissipation be in the weak (moderate) regime and that the minimum allowed value of the decay constant in the potential is f min = 0.3 (0.8) M pl, respectively.

Monopoles, strings and gravitational waves in non-minimal inflation

We discuss how in SO(10) grand unification an observable number density of topologically stable intermediate mass (∼ 1014 GeV) monopoles survive inflation driven by a Coleman-Weinberg potential and non-minimal coupling of the inflaton field to gravity. The scalar spectral index ns is in excellent agreement with the current observations, and the tensor to scalar ratio r ≳ 0.003.The model also predicts the presence of intermediate scale topologically stable cosmic strings, and their gravitational wave spectrum reflects the amount of cosmic inflation experienced by the associated symmetry breaking.The discovery of these primordial monopoles and the stochastic gravitational wave background from the strings would provide important new insights regarding the symmetry breaking patterns in the early universe.

The alteration of the Schwinger effect on radiatively corrected Higgs inflationary magneto-genesis by axial coupling

We study the alteration of the Schwinger effect on radiatively corrected Higgs inflationary magneto-genesis by axial coupling function. The conformal invariance of Maxwell action should be broken by axial coupling with the inflaton field. We use the potential of [M. Kamarpour, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 53 (2021) 53, doi:10.1007/s10714-021-02824-0; M. Kamarpour, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 54 (2022) 32, doi:10.1007/s10714-022-02920-9] with the simplest coupling function [Formula: see text] in which [Formula: see text] is a dimensionless coupling parameter. In comparison to our previous work (in which we used curvature-based coupling or so-called nonminimal coupling function to gravity to break conformal invariance of action) of [M. Kamarpour, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 54 (2022) 32, doi:10.1007/s10714-022-02920-9] we find that the Schwinger effect does alter magneto-genesis and is considerable. In fact, in comparison to our previous work of [M. Kamarpour, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 54 (2022) 32, doi:10.1007/s10714-022-02920-9] we obtain that for some certain values of coupling parameter [Formula: see text] the Schwinger effect does alter magneto-genesis (see [M. Kamarpour, Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 53 (2021) 53, doi:10.1007/s10714-021-02824-0]) and the energy density of created charged particles during the Schwinger effect becomes considerable and of course comparable to the energy density of inflaton field. Therefore, the Schwinger effect decreases the value of the electric field, so that it helps to finish the inflation stage. Then the universe enters the stage of preheating. The Schwinger effect produces charged particles, imposing the Schwinger reheating framework even before the ending of last oscillations of the inflaton field.

Warm beta -exponential inflation and the swampland conjectures

We investigate theoretical and observational aspects of a warm inflation scenario driven by the beta -exponential potential, which generalizes the well-known power law inflation. In such a scenario, the decay of the inflaton field into radiation happens during the inflationary phase. In our study, we consider a dissipation coefficient (varGamma ) with cubic dependence on the temperature (T) and investigate the consequences in the inflationary dynamics, focusing on the impact on the spectral index n_s, its running n_{run} and tensor-to-scalar ratio r. We find it possible to realize inflation in agreement with current cosmic microwave background data in weak and strong dissipation regimes. We also investigate theoretical aspects of the model in light of the swampland conjectures, as warm inflation in the strong dissipation regime has been known as a way to satisfy the three conditions currently discussed in the literature. We find that when varGamma propto T^3, the beta -exponential model can be accommodated into the conjectures.

Gravitational reheating

Our present understanding of the reheating phase is incomplete due to a lack of observations. Apart from its cosmological implications, the reheating should play a vital role in particle physics and inflation model building. Conventionally, reheating dynamics are modeled by invoking arbitrary coupling among the inflaton and daughter fields. Such an approach lacks robust cosmological predictions, due to its arbitrary couplings, and is difficult to verify through observation. In this paper, we propose a minimal reheating scenario, where the inflaton is coupled with all the daughter fields only gravitationally. Besides being successful in reheating the Universe, the scenario offers a strong cosmological prediction of the primordial gravitational wave spectrum and discards a large number of possible models of dark matter and inflation that are otherwise consistent with Planck.

Modified hybrid inflation, reheating, and stabilization of the electroweak vacuum

We propose a modification to the standard hybrid inflation model \cite{Linde:1993cn}, that connects a successful hybrid inflation scenario to the standard model Higgs sector, via the electroweak vacuum stability. The proposed model results in an effective inflation potential of a hilltop-type, with both the trans-Planckian and sub-Planckian inflation regimes consistent with the recent Planck/BICEP combined results. Reheating via the inflation sector decays to right-handed neutrinos is considered. An upper bound on the reheating temperature $T_{\rm R} \lsim 2\times 10^{11}~(1\times 10^{13})$ GeV, for large~(small) field inflation, will suppress contributions from one-loop quantum corrections to the inflation potential. This may push the neutrino Yukawa couplings to be ${\cal O}(1)$ and affect the vacuum stability. We show that the couplings of the SM Higgs to the inflation sector can guarantee the electroweak vacuum stability up to the Planck scale. The so-called hybrid Higgs-inflaton model leads to a positive correction for the Higgs quartic coupling at a threshold scale, which is shown to have a very significant effect in stabilizing the electroweak vacuum. We find that even with ${\cal O}(1)$ neutrino Yukawa couplings, threshold corrections leave the SM vacuum stability intact.

Higgs boson induced reheating and ultraviolet frozen-in dark matter

A reheating phase in the early universe is an essential part of all inflationary models during which not only the Standard Model (SM) quanta are produced but it can also shed light on the production of dark matter. In this work, we explore a class of reheating models where the reheating is induced by a cubic interaction of the inflaton ϕ to the SM Higgs boson h of the form ghϕMPlϕ|h|2 adopting the α-attractor T-model of inflation. Assuming inflaton as a background field such interaction implies a ϕ-dependent mass term of the Higgs boson and a non-trivial phase-space suppression of the reheating efficiency. As a consequence, the reheating is prolonged and the maximal temperature of the SM thermal bath is reduced. In particular, due to oscillations of the inflaton field the ϕ-dependent Higgs boson mass results in periodic transitions between phases of broken and unbroken electroweak gauge symmetry. The consequences of these rapid phase transitions have been studied in detail. A purely gravitational reheating mechanism in the presence of the inflaton background, i.e., for ghϕ = 0, has also been investigated. It turned out that even though it may account for the total production of SM radiation in the absence of ghϕ, its contribution to the reheating is subdominant for the range of ghϕ considered in this work. Approximate analytical solutions of Boltzmann equations for energy densities of the inflaton and SM radiation have been obtained. As a dark matter candidate a massive Abelian vector boson, Xμ, has been considered. Various production mechanisms of Xμ have been discussed including (i) purely gravitational production from the inflaton background, (ii) gravitational freeze-in from the SM quanta, (iii) inflaton decay through a dim-5 effective operator, and (iv) Higgs portal freeze-in and Higgs decay through a dim-6 effective operator. Parameters that properly describe the observed relic abundance have been determined.

Primordial black holes and gravitational waves from nonminimally coupled supergravity inflation

We study the formation of primordial black holes and the generation of gravitational waves in a class of cosmological models that are direct supersymmetric analogs of the observationally favored nonminimally coupled Higgs inflation model. It is known that this type of model naturally includes multiple scalar fields which may be regarded as the inflaton. For the sake of simplicity we focus on the case where the inflaton field space is two dimensional. We analyze the multifield dynamics and find the region of parameters that gives copious production of primordial black holes that may comprise a significant part of the present dark matter abundance. We also compute the spectrum of the gravitational waves and discuss their detectability by means of future ground-based and space-borne gravitational wave observatories.

Non-perturbative production of fermionic dark matter from fast preheating

We investigate non-perturbative production of fermionic dark matter in the early universe. We study analytically the gravitational production mechanism accompanied by the coupling of fermions to the background inflaton field. The latter leads to the variation of effective fermion mass during preheating and makes the resulting spectrum and abundance sensitive to its parameters. Assuming fast preheating that completes in less than the inflationary Hubble time and no oscillations of the inflaton field after inflation, we find an abundant production of particles with energies ranging from the inflationary Hubble rate to the inverse duration of preheating. The produced fermions can account for all observed dark matter in a broad range of parameters. As an application of our analysis, we study non-perturbative production of fermionic dark matter in the model of Palatini Higgs inflation.

Initial conditions of pre-inflation with Hilltop potential in loop quantum cosmology

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of pre-inflation with Hilltop potential in the framework of loop quantum cosmology. The initial conditions of inflaton field at the quantum bounce is categorized into two classes, first one is dominated by kinetic energy and second one by potential energy. In both cases, the physically viable initial values of inflaton field at the bounce are obtained numerically that generate the desired slow-roll inflation and also sufficient number of $e$-folds. To be consistent with observations at least 60 $e$-folds are required. In case of kinetic energy dominated initial conditions of inflaton field at the bounce, the numerical evolution of the background prior to preheating is divided into three different regions: {\it bouncing, transition and slow-roll inflation} whereas bouncing and transition phases disappear in the potential energy dominated case but still slow-roll inflation is achieved. This is true in case of $p=4$ and $v=1 M_{Pl}$ of Hilltop potential. However for other cases, slow-roll inflation can not be obtained. Moreover, we study the phase space analysis for Hilltop potential and discuss the phase space trajectories under the chosen parameters.

Constant-roll inflation field with Tsallis entopic proposal

In this work, we investigate the high-energy era of the universe from the constant-roll condition perspective by taking the Friedmann equation, which is modified by a non-additive Tsallis entropic proposal. In the framework of the observational data, we determine the constant-roll parameter. Under the fixed field condition of the constant-roll parameter, for the wide range of the power-term of the chaotic potentials, sim phi ^{n}, which involves some string-chaotic potential models, n=frac{2}{3}, n=frac{4}{5}, the non-additive (nonextensive) Tsallis parameter is analyzed graphically. The resulting analysis shows that, in addition to a quasi-de Sitter phase, any value of the range 0.5<n<1.2 points to a dynamical form of the dark energy (quintessence) in the early universe. It implies that n values in the range may be included in string-chaotic potential models. The non-additive Tsallis parameter provides this with the help of its negative values in the constant-roll field.

Superheavy dark matter production from a symmetry-restoring first-order phase transition during inflation

We propose a scenario where superheavy dark matter (DM) can be produced via symmetry restoration first-order phase transition during inflation triggered by the evolution of the inflaton field. The phase transition happens in a spectator sector coupled to the inflaton field. During the phase transition, the spectator field tunnels from a symmetry-broken vacuum to a symmetry-restored vacuum. The massive particles produced after bubble collisions are protected against decaying by the restored symmetry and may serve as a DM candidate in the later evolution of the Universe. We show that the latent heat released during the phase transition can be sufficient to produce the DM relic abundance observed today. In addition, accompanied with the super heavy DM, this first-order phase transition also produces gravitational waves detectable via future gravitational wave detectors.

E- and T-model hybrid inflation

We consider the impact of a kinetic pole of order one or two on the non-supersymmetric model of hybrid inflation. These poles arise due to logarithmic Kähler potentials which control the kinetic mixing of the inflaton field and parameterize hyperbolic manifolds with scalar curvature related to the coefficient (-N)<0 of the logarithm. Inflation is associated with the breaking of a local SU(2)times U(1) symmetry, which does not produce any cosmological defects after it, and remains largely immune from the minimal possible radiative corrections to the inflationary potential. For N=1 and equal values of the relevant coupling constants, lambda and kappa , the achievement of the observationally central value for the scalar spectral index, n_{textrm{s}}, requires the mass parameter, m, and the symmetry breaking scale, M, to be of the order of 10^{12}~{textrm{GeV}} and 10^{17}~{textrm{GeV}} respectively. Increasing N above unity the tensor-to-scalar ratio r increases above 0.002 and reaches its maximal allowed value for Nsimeq 10{-}20.

Effective field theory of magnetogenesis identify necessary and sufficient conditions

At astrophysical and cosmological scales, there is a detectable amount of magnetic field. There are several probable origins for this observed magnetic field, including the possibility of its origin in the early Universe. There are several models for primordial magnetogenesis, and if the inflationary background is taken into account, broken conformal invariance is required to generate a sufficient amount of magnetic field. The breaking of conformal invariance is introduced either by new couplings between electromagnetic field and inflaton field or including higher derivative terms to the theory. As a step to unify these different approaches in the literature, we propose an Effective Field Theory (EFT) approach based on expansion about the Hubble parameter (H) and its derivatives, where EFT parameters describe the magnetogenesis scenario in the early Universe, and different choices of parameters correspond to different models.We explicitly show that the generation of primordial magnetic fields requires two necessary conditions — conformal invariance breaking and causal propagation. While broken conformal invariance is a common requirement for primordial magnetogenesis, for the first time, we show that causal propagation is also a necessary condition. We confirm this by considering a specific model of primordial magnetogenesis.

Investigating Quantum Mechanics in 5th Dimensional Embedding via Deterministic Structure, Small Scale Factor, and Initial Inflaton Field

Investigating Quantum Mechanics in 5th Dimensional Embedding via Deterministic Structure, Small Scale Factor, and Initial Inflaton Field

Inflation with stochastic boundary

We study the Brownian motion of a field where there are boundaries in the inflationary field space. Both the field and the boundary undergo Brownian motions with the amplitudes of the noises determined by the Hubble expansion rate of the corresponding de Sitter spacetime. This setup mimics models of inflation in which curvature perturbation is induced from inhomogeneities generated at the surface of the end of inflation. The cases of the drift-dominated regime as well as the diffusion-dominated regime are studied in detail. We calculate the first hitting probabilities as well as the mean number of $e$-folds for the field to hit either of the boundaries in the field space. The implications for models of inflation are reviewed.

Spatial correlations of dark energy from quantum fluctuations during inflation

This paper contains a detailed study of the properties of a simple model attempting to explain dark energy as originated from quantum fluctuations of a light spectator scalar field in inflation. In [1] we recently outlined how Starobinsky's stochastic formalism can be used to study the spatial correlations imprinted on dark energy by its quantum origin in this model and we studied their possible role in relieving the Hubble tension. Here we provide a more comprehensive derivation of the results in [1] and we refine some of our estimates, comparing to the approximate results obtained previously. Among the main results, we analyze the non-coincident correlators predicted by a full field theoretical treatment and their relation with those computed within the stochastic formalism. We find that in the region where stochastic theory predicts significant sub-Hubble correlators it is in disagreement with field theoretical predictions. However, agreement can be restored by introducing a reduced speed of sound for the scalar field. We also discuss an alternative approach to the problem of studying correlators within the stochastic formalism based directly on the evolution of probability distributions. We find that the two approaches give the same answer for 2-point functions of the field, but not for 4-point functions relevant to density correlators and we discuss the behaviour of the two methods with respect to Wick's theorem.