Calculations of inflaton decays and reheating: with applications to no-scale inflation models

Journal Article · Thu Jul 30 04:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2015/07/050· OSTI ID:22458357

Ellis, John ^[1]; Garcia, Marcos A.G. ^[2]; Nanopoulos, Dimitri V. ^[3]; Olive, Keith A. ^[2]

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1. Theoretical Particle Physics and Cosmology Group, Department of Physics,King’s College London,London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom)
2. William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy,University of Minnesota,116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)
3. George P. and Cynthia W. Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Texas A&M University,College Station, 77843 Texas (United States)

We discuss inflaton decays and reheating in no-scale Starobinsky-like models of inflation, calculating the effective equation-of-state parameter, w, during the epoch of inflaton decay, the reheating temperature, T{sub reh}, and the number of inflationary e-folds, N{sub ∗}, comparing analytical approximations with numerical calculations. We then illustrate these results with applications to models based on no-scale supergravity and motivated by generic string compactifications, including scenarios where the inflaton is identified as an untwisted-sector matter field with direct Yukawa couplings to MSSM fields, and where the inflaton decays via gravitational-strength interactions. Finally, we use our results to discuss the constraints on these models imposed by present measurements of the scalar spectral index n{sub s} and the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio r, converting them into constraints on N{sub ∗}, the inflaton decay rate and other parameters of specific no-scale inflationary models.

• Sponsoring Organization: SCOAP3, CERN, Geneva (Switzerland)
• OSTI ID: 22458357
• Journal Information: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics Journal Issue: 07 Vol. 2015; ISSN 1475-7516
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COSMOLOGICAL INFLATION
COSMOLOGY
EQUATIONS OF STATE
LIMITING VALUES
PERTURBATION THEORY
SUPERGRAVITY
SUPERSYMMETRY