Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating

Abstract Cosmological gravitational particle production (GPP) is a generic mechanism by which particles are produced during the inflationary epoch. In this work we consider the GPP of massive scalars in an effort to fully understand the spectrum of the produced particles. We consider scalars which a...

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Main Authors: Leah Jenks, Edward W. Kolb, Keyer Thyme
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2025-05-01
Series:Journal of High Energy Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2025)077
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author Leah Jenks
Edward W. Kolb
Keyer Thyme
author_facet Leah Jenks
Edward W. Kolb
Keyer Thyme
author_sort Leah Jenks
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Cosmological gravitational particle production (GPP) is a generic mechanism by which particles are produced during the inflationary epoch. In this work we consider the GPP of massive scalars in an effort to fully understand the spectrum of the produced particles. We consider scalars which are conformally or minimally coupled to gravity, as well as models of both early and late reheating. We numerically calculate the particle production in each scenario and compare the results to analytic approximations from boundary matching, Stokes phenomenon, steepest descent, and inflaton scattering methods. For each method, we describe the regime of validity and show that there is good agreement between the analytic and numerical results.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1029-8479
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spelling doaj-art-4a078d3aca0a4c8799f4e3445dd86adf2025-08-20T03:25:15ZengSpringerOpenJournal of High Energy Physics1029-84792025-05-012025514610.1007/JHEP05(2025)077Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheatingLeah Jenks0Edward W. Kolb1Keyer Thyme2Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, The University of ChicagoKavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, The University of ChicagoKavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, The University of ChicagoAbstract Cosmological gravitational particle production (GPP) is a generic mechanism by which particles are produced during the inflationary epoch. In this work we consider the GPP of massive scalars in an effort to fully understand the spectrum of the produced particles. We consider scalars which are conformally or minimally coupled to gravity, as well as models of both early and late reheating. We numerically calculate the particle production in each scenario and compare the results to analytic approximations from boundary matching, Stokes phenomenon, steepest descent, and inflaton scattering methods. For each method, we describe the regime of validity and show that there is good agreement between the analytic and numerical results.https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2025)077Early Universe Particle PhysicsParticle Nature of Dark Matter
spellingShingle Leah Jenks
Edward W. Kolb
Keyer Thyme
Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating
Journal of High Energy Physics
Early Universe Particle Physics
Particle Nature of Dark Matter
title Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating
title_full Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating
title_fullStr Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating
title_full_unstemmed Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating
title_short Gravitational particle production of scalars: analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating
title_sort gravitational particle production of scalars analytic and numerical approaches including early reheating
topic Early Universe Particle Physics
Particle Nature of Dark Matter
url https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP05(2025)077
work_keys_str_mv AT leahjenks gravitationalparticleproductionofscalarsanalyticandnumericalapproachesincludingearlyreheating
AT edwardwkolb gravitationalparticleproductionofscalarsanalyticandnumericalapproachesincludingearlyreheating
AT keyerthyme gravitationalparticleproductionofscalarsanalyticandnumericalapproachesincludingearlyreheating