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Oscillons after inflation.

Mustafa A Amin1, Richard Easther, Hal Finkel

  • 1Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.

Physical Review Letters
|September 26, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Massive field excitations called oscillons can dominate the universe after inflation in specific single-field models. This leads to a significantly enhanced primordial power spectrum on small scales.

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Area of Science:

  • Cosmology
  • Theoretical Physics
  • Particle Physics

Background:

  • Oscillons are massive, long-lived, localized excitations of a scalar field.
  • Inflationary cosmology describes the early universe's rapid expansion.
  • Scalar fields are fundamental to many cosmological models.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate oscillon generation and domination following inflation in specific single-field models.
  • To explore the cosmological implications of oscillon-dominated epochs.
  • To connect theoretical models with observational cosmological parameters.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of single-field models with specific inflaton potential characteristics (shallower than quadratic away from a quadratic minimum).
  • Consideration of weakly coupled inflaton fields to avoid rapid energy dissipation.
  • Comparison of model predictions with concordance cosmology parameters.

Main Results:

  • Demonstration of copious oscillon generation and a lengthy period of oscillon domination after inflation in the studied models.
  • Identification of specific inflaton potentials (including string monodromy and supergravity-inspired models) that support this phenomenon.
  • Prediction of a greatly enhanced primordial power spectrum on very small scales compared to standard quadratic potentials.

Conclusions:

  • Certain single-field inflationary models naturally lead to oscillon domination.
  • Oscillon domination significantly alters the primordial power spectrum, potentially leading to observable gravitational effects.
  • These models are consistent with current cosmological observations.