We propose a simple mechanism of light dark matter (DM) production from the decay of the oscillating inflaton condensation. If the reheating temperature after inflation is higher than the inflaton mass, which is of the same order of the momentum of the DM at the time of the production, the DM momentum can be suppressed compared to the temperature of the thermal plasma if the interaction of the DM is weak enough. Consequently, the DM can be cold enough to avoid the observational constraints on the warm DM, like the Lyman-$α$ bound even if the DM mass is small. We study the bosonic and fermionic DM production from the inflaton decay, taking into account the effect of the stimulated emission and Pauli blocking, respectively. In both cases, the DM can be cold and abundant enough to be a viable candidate of the DM. We also apply our mechanism to the production of isocurvature-problem-free axion DM and Dirac sea DM of right-handed neutrino consistent the seesaw relation for the active neutrino masses.
We consider the possibility that the inflaton is part of the dark sector and interacts with the standard model through a portal interaction with a heavy complex scalar field in equilibrium with the standard model at high energies. The inflaton and dark matter are encapsulated in a single complex field and both scalar sectors are charged under different (approximate) global U(1)'s such that the dark matter, as well as the visible pseudo-scalar are taken to be relatively light, as pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons of the theory. The dark matter relic density is populated by Freeze-In productions thr…
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 generally induce a non-minimal coupling to gravity which facilitates inflation consistent with the PLANCK constraints. A large fraction of the inflaton quanta produced after inflation must be converted into the SM radiation reheating the Universe and the rest remains dark matter today. We consider thermal and non-thermal production of inflaton dark matter. …
Due to the universality of gravitational interactions, it is generally expected that a stochastic gravitational wave (GW) background could form during the reheating period when the inflaton perturbatively decays with the emission of gravitons. Previously, only models in which the inflaton dominantly decays into a pair of light scalar and/or fermion particles were considered in the literature. In the present paper, we focus on the cases with a vector particle pair in the final decay product. The differential decay rates for the three-body gravitational inflaton decays are presented for two typi…
We study scalar dark matter production and reheating via renormalizable inflaton couplings, which include both quartic and trilinear interactions. These processes often depend crucially on collective effects such as resonances, backreaction and rescattering of the produced particles. To take them into account, we perform lattice simulations and map out parameter space producing the correct (non-thermal) dark matter density. We find that the inflaton-dark matter system can reach a quasi-equilibrium state during preheating already at very small couplings, in which case the dark matter abundance …
We present a model where the inflaton can naturally account for all the dark matter in the Universe within the warm inflation paradigm. In particular, we show that the symmetries of the Warm Little Inflaton scenario (i) avoid large thermal and radiative corrections to the scalar potential, (ii) allow for sufficiently strong dissipative effects to sustain a radiation bath during inflation that becomes dominant at the end of the slow-roll regime, and (iii) enable a stable inflaton remnant in the post-inflationary epochs. The latter behaves as dark radiation until parametrically before matter-rad…
We present a scenario of vector dark matter production during inflation containing a complex inflaton field which is charged under a dark gauge field and which has a symmetry breaking potential. As the inflaton field rolls towards the global minimum of the potential the dark photons become massive with a mass which can be larger than the Hubble scale during inflation. The accumulated energy of the quantum fluctuations of the produced dark photons gives the observed relic density of the dark matter for a wide range of parameters. Depending on the parameters, either the transverse modes or the l…
It is shown that perturbative reheating can reach a sufficiently high temperature with small or negligible inflaton decay rate provided that the inflaton potential becomes negative after inflation. In our model, inflaton and dark energy field are two independent scalar fields, and, depending on the mass of the inflaton and its coupling to matter fields, there is a possibility that the remaining inflaton after reheating can become a dark matter candidate.
We present a model where the inflaton field behaves like quintessence at late times, generating the present phase of accelerated expansion. This is achieved within the framework of warm inflation, in particular the Warm Little Inflaton scenario, where the underlying symmetries guarantee a successful inflationary period in a warm regime sustained by dissipative effects without significant backreaction on the scalar potential. This yields a smooth transition into a radiation-dominated epoch, at which point dissipative effects naturally shut down as the temperature drops below the mass of the fer…
Gravitational waves signatures from dynamical scalar field configurations provide a compelling observational window on the early universe. Here we identify intriguing connections between dark matter and scalars fields that emit gravitational waves, either through a first order phase transition or oscillating after inflation. To study gravitational waves from first order phase transitions, we investigate a simplified model consisting of a heavy scalar coupled to a vector and fermion field. We then compute gravitational wave spectra sourced by inflaton field configurations oscillating after E-Mo…
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, $T_{\rm reh}$, and the number of inflationary e-folds, $N_*$, 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 coupling…
The recent XENON1T excess in the electron recoil data can be explained by anomaly-free axion-like particle (ALP) dark matter with mass $m_ϕ= 2.3 \pm 0.2\,$keV and the decay constant $f_ϕ/q_e \simeq 2 \times 10^{10} \sqrt{Ω_ϕ/Ω_{\rm DM}}\,{\rm GeV}$. Intriguingly, the suggested mass and decay constant are consistent with the relation, $f_ϕ\sim 10^3 \sqrt{m_ϕM_p}$, predicted in a scenario where the ALP plays the role of the inflaton. This raises a possibility that the ALP dark matter responsible for the XENON1T excess also drove inflation in the very early universe. We study implications of the …
We analyze decay processes of the inflaton field, phi, during the coherent oscillation phase after inflation in f(phi)R gravity. It is inevitable that the inflaton decays gravitationally into gauge fields in the presence of f(phi)R coupling. We show a concrete calculation of the rate that the inflaton field decays into a pair of gauge fields via the trace anomaly. Comparing this new decay channel via the anomaly with the channels from the tree-level analysis, we find that the branching ratio crucially depends on masses and the internal multiplicities (flavor quantum number) of decay product pa…
We point out that the inflaton inevitably couples to all non-conformally coupled matters gravitationally through an oscillation in the Hubble parameter or the cosmic scale factor. It leads to particle production during the inflaton oscillation regime, which is most efficient just after inflation. Moreover, the analysis is extended to the model with non-minimal inflaton couplings to gravity, in which the Hubble parameter oscillates more violently. We apply our results to the graviton production by the inflaton: gravitons are also produced just after inflation, but the non-minimal coupling does …
We show that the decay of the inflaton field may be incomplete, while nevertheless successfully reheating the universe and leaving a stable remnant that accounts for the present dark matter abundance. We note, in particular, that since the mass of the inflaton decay products is field-dependent, one can construct models, endowed with an appropriate discrete symmetry, where inflaton decay is kinematically forbidden at late times and only occurs during the initial stages of field oscillations after inflation. We show that this is sufficient to ensure the transition to a radiation-dominated era an…
We explore the possibility that the dark-matter relic abundance is generated in a context where the inflaton is the only mediator between the visible and the hidden sectors of our universe. Due to the relatively large mass of the inflaton field, such a portal leads to an extremely feeble interaction between the dark and the visible sectors suggesting that the dark sector cannot reach any thermal equilibrium with the visible sector. After the two sectors are populated by the decay of the inflaton, a heavy dark-matter particle thermally decouples within the dark sector. Later, a lighter dark par…
We examine an intriguing possibility that a single field is responsible for both inflation and dark matter, focussing on the minimal set-up where inflation is driven by a scalar coupling to curvature. We study in detail the reheating process in this framework, which amounts mainly to particle production in a quartic potential, and distinguish thermal and non-thermal dark matter options. In the non-thermal case, the reheating is impeded by backreaction and rescattering, making this possibility unrealistic. On the other hand, thermalized dark matter is viable, yet the unitarity bound forces the …
We study the minimal extension of the SM by a scalar with quartic interaction serving as an inflaton. For the model where scale symmetry is broken only in the inflaton sector, the mass of the inflaton is constrained to be relatively low. Here, we analysed the previously omitted situation of the inflaton masses $m_χ\gtrsim 250\text{ GeV}$. Therefore, we provide a window of inflaton masses with viable inflationary properties that evade direct observational constraints, due to their small mixing with the Higgs sector. The addition of heavy neutral leptons with Majorana masses induced by the inter…
We analyse the dark Higgs inflation model with curvature corrections and explore the possibility to test its predictions by the particle physics experiments at LHC. We show that the dark Higgs inflation model with curvature corrections is strongly favoured by the present cosmological observations. The cosmological predictions of this model, including the quantum corrections of dark Higgs coupling constants and the uncertainty in estimation of the reheating temperature, lead to the dark Higgs mass $m_ϕ=0.919 \pm$ 0.211 GeV and the mixing angle $θ=1.492 \pm$ 0.045 (at 68\% CL). We evaluate the F…
In order for the inflaton to decay into radiation at the end of inflation, it needs to couple to light matter fields. In this article we determine whether such couplings cause the inflaton to decay during inflation rather than after it. We calculate decay amplitudes during inflation, and determine to what extent such processes have an impact on the mean and variance of the inflaton, as well as on the expected energy density of its decay products. Although the exponential growth of the decay amplitudes with the number of e-folds appears to indicate the rapid decay of the inflaton, cancellations…
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 early epoch while it gives a Dark Matter WIMP particle at low energies. After inflation our universe must be reheated and we must have a long period of radiation dominated before the epoch of Dark Matter. Typically the inflaton decays while it oscillates around the minimum of its potential. If the inflaton decay is not complete or sufficient then the remaining e…
We propose a non-thermal scenario for the generation of baryon number asymmetry in a radiative neutrino mass model which is modified to realize inflation at the early Universe. In this scenario, inflaton plays a crucial role in both generation of neutrino masses and lepton number asymmetry. Lepton number asymmetry is firstly generated in the dark matter sector through direct decay of inflaton. It is transferred to the lepton sector via the dark matter annihilation and then converted to the baryon number asymmetry due to the sphaleron interaction. All of the neutrino masses, the baryon number a…
We study the mechanism of generation of 7 keV sterile neutrino Dark Matter (DM) in the model with light inflaton $χ$, which serves as a messenger of scale invariance breaking. In this model the inflaton, in addition to providing reheating to the Standard Model (SM) particles, decays directly into sterile neutrinos. The latter are responsible for the active neutrino oscillations via seesaw type I like formula. While the two sterile neutrinos may also produce the lepton asymmetry in the primordial plasma and hence explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, the third one being the lightest may…
We discuss the production of radiation and dark matter assuming a time-dependent inflaton decay rate during the reheating period. It is shown that the time dependence of the inflaton decay rate can substantially modify the reheating dynamics. As an illustration, a leading interaction between the inflaton $ϕ$ and the Higgs doublet ${\boldsymbol h}$ of the form $ϕ|{\boldsymbol h}|^2$ was adopted. In the presence of such interaction, the Higgs doublet acquires a $ϕ$-dependent mass which generates vacuum-expectation-value due to inflaton oscillations and breaks the Standard Model gauge symmetry. T…
In this talk we will discuss how inflation can be embedded within a minimal extension of the Standard Model where the inflaton carries the Standard Model charges. There is no need of an ad-hoc scalar field to be introduced in order to explain the temperature anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation, all the ingredients are present within a minimal supersymmetric Standard Model. For the first time inflaton properties can be directly linked to the particle phenomenology, dark matter, and the baryons of the Standard Model.
We study the possibility that, after inflation, the inflaton reaches thermal equilibrium with the Standard Model thermal bath and eventually freezes-out in the non-relativistic regime. When the inflaton decay is the sole source of (non-thermal) dark matter, its relic density is automatically suppressed. We delineate parameter space leading to the correct dark matter abundance. The model allows for a significant Higgs-inflaton coupling which may lead to invisible Higgs decay into inflaton pairs at the LHC.
Post-inflationary reheating is a widely discussed mechanism for non-thermal production of dark matter (DM). In this scenario the momentum distribution of the produced DM particles is usually taken to be the one obtained at reheating, red-shifted at later times due to the expansion of the Universe. However, since in such a scenario both the DM and the standard model (SM) fields couple to the inflaton, the DM particles necessarily undergo self-scatterings, as well as elastic and inelastic scattering reactions with the SM bath, all of which proceed through $s-$channel or $t-$channel inflaton exch…
We study the possibility of cogenesis of baryon and dark matter (DM) from the out-of-equilibrium CP violating decay of right handed neutrino (RHN) that are dominantly of non-thermal origin. While the RHN and its heavier partners can take part in light neutrino mass generation via Type-I seesaw mechanism, the decay of RHN into dark and visible sectors can create respective asymmetries simultaneously. The non-thermal sources of RHN considered are {\bf (a)} on-shell decay of inflaton, and {\bf (b)} evaporation of ultralight primordial black holes (PBH). After setting up the complete set of Boltzm…
We discuss a scenario that gravitinos produced non-thermally by an inflaton decay constitute dark matter in the present universe. We find that this scenario is realized for wide ranges of the inflaton mass and the vacuum expectation value. What is intriguing about this scenario is that the gravitino dark matter can have a relatively large free streaming length at matter-radiation equality, which can be probed by future observation on QSO-galaxy strong lens system.
We present the first fully non-linear calculation of inflaton decay. We map inflaton decay onto an equivalent classical problem and solve the latter numerically. In the $λϕ^4$ model, we find that parametric resonance develops slower and ends at smaller values of fluctuating fields, as compared to estimates existing in literature. We also observe a number of qualitatively new phenomena, including a stage of semiclassical thermalization, during which the decay of inflaton is essentially as effective as during the resonance stage.
We study radiative plateau-like inflation \& Z$_{BL}$-portal freeze-in fermionic dark matter (DM) in a minimal B-L extended model. The U(1)$_{B-L}$ Higgs, responsible for heavy neutrino masses, also drives inflation in the early universe, thanks to radiative corrections from the heavy neutrinos \& the Z$_{BL}$ gauge boson. In our benchmark choice for the U(1)$_{B-L}$ gauge coupling $g_{B-L}\sim10^{-4}$, a light Z$_{BL}$ boson can be explored by current and future lifetime frontier experiments, such as FASER and FASER 2 at the LHC, SHiP, Belle II and LHCb. For the benchmark, the Hubble scale of…
We discuss the possibility of producing a light dark photon dark matter through a coupling between the dark photon field and the inflaton. The dark photon with a large wavelength is efficiently produced due to the inflaton motion during inflation and becomes non-relativistic before the time of matter-radiation equality. We compute the amount of production analytically. The correct relic abundance is realized with a dark photon mass extending down to $10^{-21} \, \rm eV$.
It is known that gravitinos are non-thermally produced in inflaton decay processes, which excludes many inflation models for a wide range of the gravitino mass. We find that the constraints from the gravitino overproduction can be greatly relaxed if the supersymmetry breaking field is much lighter than the inflaton, and if the dynamical scale of the supersymmetry breaking is higher than the inflaton mass. In particular, we show that many inflation models then become consistent with the pure gravity mediation with O(100)TeV gravitino which naturally explains the recently observed Higgs boson ma…
We present a scenario where a $Z_2$-symmetric scalar field $ϕ$ 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 decays à la freeze-in mechanism. We work model-independently without specifying the interactions of the scalar field besides its self-interaction coupling, $λϕ^4$, non-minimal coupling to gravity, $ξϕ^2R$, and coupling to another scalar field, $gϕ^2σ^2$. We find the scalar field $ϕ$ serves both as the inflaton and a dark matter candidate if $10^{-9}\lesssim λ\…
We consider the possible decay of the inflaton into curvaton particles during reheating and analyse its effect on curvaton scenarios. Typical decay curvatons are initially relativistic then become non-relativistic, changing the background history of the Universe. We show that this change to the background is the only way in which observational predictions of the scenario are modified. Moreover, once the required amplitude of perturbations is fixed by observation there are no signatures of such decays in other cosmological observables. The decay curvatons can prevent the Universe from becoming …
We update the allowed parameter space of the simple chaotic inflationary model with quartic potential and light inflaton [Bezrukov,Gorbunov'2009] taking into account recent results from cosmology (CMB observations from SPT, ACT and WMAP) and from particle physics (LHC hints of the SM Higgs boson). The non-minimal (yet small) coupling to gravity of the inflaton becomes essential to fit the observational data. The inflaton has mass above 300 MeV and can be searched for at B-factories in B-meson two-body decays to kaon and inflaton. The inflaton lifetime depends on the model parameters, resulting…
By arranging the control parameters, we examine whether the mass varying neutrino model PRD 103, 063540 (2021), enabling one to unify inflation with the present dark energy, can be used for producing an early dark energy. The model works in the following way. At early stages of the Big-Bang, the inflaton trapped in the minimum at $ϕ= 0$ gets uplifted due to interaction with neutrinos and starts to roll down to one of the degenerate minima of the effective potential and after a while gets anchored at this minimum, which in turn evolves in time very slowly. Correspondingly, the early dark energy…
We study a new model of quintessential inflation which is inspired by supergravity and string theory. The model features a kinetic pole, which gives rise to the inflationary plateau, and a runaway quintessential tail. We envisage a coupling between the inflaton and the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) field which terminates the roll of the runaway inflaton and traps the latter at an enhanced symmetry point (ESP), thereby breaking the PQ symmetry. The kinetic density of the inflaton is transferred to the newly created thermal bath of the hot big bang due to the decay of PQ particles. The model successfully ac…
A new theory of thermal history after inflation is outlined by taking into account the effect of parametric resonance caused by inflaton oscillation. A typical outcome is existence of a high temperature phase, that makes possible GUT baryogenesis consistently with low enough gravitino abundance.
We present a minimal UV complete framework to embed inflation and dark matter by extending the standard model with a singlet real scalar field (the inflaton) and a singlet fermonic field acting as dark matter. The inflaton features the most general renormalizable polynomial up to quartic order, which is flat due to the existence of a perturbed inflection-point, comfortably fitting CMB measurements. We also analyze (p)reheating by considering the Higgs production via inflaton decay. In the early universe, dark matter can be generated by the mediation of gravitons or inflatons. However, the prod…
The primordial inflation dilutes all matter except the quantum fluctuations which we see in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. Therefore the last phases of inflation must be embedded within a beyond the Standard Model (SM) sector where the inflaton can directly excite the SM quarks and leptons. In this paper we consider two inflaton candidates LLe and udd whose decay can naturally excite all the relevant degrees of freedom besides thermalizing the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) during and after reheating. In particular, we present the regions of the parameter space which …
Within the framework of an explicit dynamical model, in which we calculate the radiatively-corrected, tree-level potential that sets up inflation, we show that the inflaton can be a significant part of dark matter today. We exhibit potentials with both a maximum and a minimum. Using the calculated position of the potential minimum, and an estimate for fluctuations of the inflaton field in the early universe, we calculate a contribution to the matter energy density of $(1-2)\times 10^{-47}\GeV^4$ in the present universe, from cold inflatons with mass of about $6\times 10^9\GeV$. We show that th…
A generic prediction of the Coleman-Weinberg inflation is the existence of a heavy particle sector whose interactions with the inflaton, the lightest state in this sector, generate the inflaton potential at loop level. For typical interactions the heavy sector may contain stable states whose relic abundance is generated at the end of inflation by the gravity alone. This general feature, and the absence of any particle physics signal of dark matter so far, motivates us to look for new directions in the dark sector physics, including scenarios in which dark matter is super-heavy. In this article…
We investigate the particle production from thermal gravitational annihilation in the very early universe, which is an important contribution for particles that might not be in thermal equilibrium or/and only have gravitational interaction, such as dark matter (DM). For particles with spin 0, 1/2 and 1 we calculate the relevant cross sections through gravitational annihilation and give the analytic formulas with full mass-dependent terms. We find that DM with mass between TeV and $10^{16}$GeV could have the relic abundance that fits the observation, with small dependence on its spin. We also d…
In the present work we discuss baryon asymmetry in the non-thermal leptogenesis scenario and gravitino cosmology for an unstable gravitino with inflaton decay. We take into account two production mechanisms for gravitino, namely thermal production and inflaton decay. We wish to show in plots the allowed parameter space so that the BBN constraint and the requirement for the right baryon asymmetry are satisfied at the same time. However our analysis shows that it is impossible to achieve both goals simultaneously.
The standard model Higgs boson can serve as the inflaton field of slow roll inflationary models provided it exhibits a large non-minimal coupling with the gravitational scalar curvature. The Higgs boson self interactions and its couplings with a standard model singlet scalar serving as the source of dark matter are then subject to cosmological constraints. These bounds, which can be more stringent than those arising from vacuum stability and perturbative triviality alone, still allow values for the Higgs boson mass which should be accessible at the LHC. As the Higgs boson coupling to the dark …
We have recently shown that, if the inflaton has a nonzero vacuum expectation value, it generically couples to any matter fields that appear in the superpotential at the tree level, and to any gauge sectors through anomalies in the supergravity. Through these processes, the inflaton decays into the supersymmetry breaking sector, producing many gravitinos. The inflaton also directly decays into a pair of the gravitinos. Taking account of these processes, we derive constraints on both inflation models and supersymmetry breaking scenarios for avoiding overproduction of the gravitinos.
We point out that the inflaton spontaneously decays into any gauge bosons and gauginos via the super-Weyl, Kahler and sigma-model anomalies in supergravity, once the inflaton acquires a non-vanishing vacuum expectation value. In particular, in the dynamical supersymmetry breaking scenarios, the inflaton necessarily decays into the supersymmetry breaking sector, if the inflaton mass is larger than the dynamical scale. This generically causes the overproduction of the gravitinos, which severely constrains the inflation models.
