TITLE: Gravitational Portals and Particle Production during Reheating

ABSTRACT: For many applications, reheating after inflation can be treated as a (nearly) instantaneous process. However, it is not, and the evolution of the inflaton condensate and the emerging radiation bath may play a role in particle production.The production of matter and radiation during reheating after inflation is considered with an emphasis on minimal gravitational interactions. Processes considered are the exchange of a graviton, hμν, involved in the scattering of the inflaton or particles in the newly created radiation bath. In particular, we consider the gravitational production of dark matter (scalar or fermionic) from the thermal bath as well as from scattering of the inflaton condensate. Also considered is the gravitational production of radiation from inflaton scattering leading to a lower bound on the maximal temperature of order of ~ 10^12 GeV. 


https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/94928022788?pwd=emVQWG1mTnhSbHVqekVuenk0VEVQZz09