Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: The time dependence of the temperature during the reheating process is studied. We consider the thermal feedback effects of the produced particles on the effective dissipation rate of the inflaton field, which can lead to enhanced production of particles. We parameterize the temperature dependence of the dissipation rate in terms of a Taylor expansion containing the vacuum decay rate and the thermal terms. By solving the Boltzmann equations for the energy densities of the inflaton and radiation, we provide analytic estimates for a general power-law dependence on the temperature. In this way, we describe the entire reheating process. The maximum temperature of the reheating process and its dependence on model parameters are studied in different cases. The impact of the thermal feedback effects on the expansion history of the universe and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is discussed. We also discuss the range of validity of our approach.
Author: Ming Lei
Institution: Nanjing University
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G3120511443, G7542464898
OpenAlex ID: W3159945588