TY  - JOUR
AU  - Antusch, S.
AU  - Figueroa, D. G.
AU  - Marschall, K.
AU  - Torrenti, F.
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020//
TI  - Energy distribution and equation of state of the early Universe: Matching the end of inflation and the onset of radiation domination
T2  - Phys. Lett. B
JO  - Physics Letters B
SP  - 135888
EP  - 7pp
VL  - 811
PB  - Elsevier
AB  - We study the energy distribution and equation of state of the universe between the end of inflation and the onset of radiation domination (RD), considering observationally consistent single-field inflationary scenarios, with a potential 'flattening' at large field values, and a monomial shape V(phi) proportional to vertical bar phi vertical bar(p) around the origin. As a proxy for (p)reheating, we include a quadratic interaction g(2)phi X-2(2) between the inflaton phi and a light scalar 'daughter' field X, with g(2) > 0. We capture the non-perturbative and non-linear nature of the system dynamics with lattice simulations, obtaining that: i) the final energy transferred to X depends only on p, not on g(2); ii) the final transfer of energy is always negligible for 2 <= p < 4, and of order similar to 50% for p >= 4; iii) the system goes at late times to matter-domination for p = 2, and always to RD for p > 2. In the latter case we calculate the number of e-folds until RD, significantly reducing the uncertainty in the inflationary observables Tl-s and r.
SN  - 0370-2693
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.07563
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135888
DO  - 10.1016/j.physletb.2020.135888
LA  - English
N1  - WOS:000612225400040
ID  - Antusch_etal2020
ER  -