Nonperturbative dynamics of reheating after inflation: A review

• Main Authors: Amin, Mustafa Abdulkader (Author), Hertzberg, Mark Peter (Contributor), Kaiser, David I. (Contributor), Karouby, Johanna (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Program in Science, Technology and Society (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: World Scientific Publishing, 2015-03-13T18:18:55Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

Our understanding of the state of the universe between the end of inflation and big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is incomplete. The dynamics at the end of inflation are rich and a potential source of observational signatures. Reheating, the energy transfer between the inflaton and Standard Model fields (possibly through intermediaries) and their subsequent thermalization, can provide clues to how inflation fits in with known high-energy physics. We provide an overview of our current understanding of the nonperturbative, nonlinear dynamics at the end of inflation, some salient features of realistic particle physics models of reheating, and how the universe reaches a thermal state before BBN. In addition, we review the analytical and numerical tools available in the literature to study preheating and reheating and discuss potential observational signatures from this fascinating era.
Kavli Institute for Cosmology, Cambridge
United States. Dept. of Energy (Contract Number DE-SC00012567)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Theoretical Physics