Nonlinear dynamics and primordial curvature perturbations from preheating FREE ARTICLE

In this paper I review the theory and numerical simulations of nonlinear dynamics of preheating, a stage of dynamical instability at the end of inflation during which the homogeneous inflaton explosively decays and deposits its energy into excitation of other matter fields. I focus on preheating in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Classical and quantum gravity 2010-06, Vol.27 (12), p.124006-124006
Main Author: Frolov, Andrei V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Curvature
Heating
Instability
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Nonlinear dynamics
Preheating
Stability
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Summary:In this paper I review the theory and numerical simulations of nonlinear dynamics of preheating, a stage of dynamical instability at the end of inflation during which the homogeneous inflaton explosively decays and deposits its energy into excitation of other matter fields. I focus on preheating in chaotic inflation models, which proceeds via broad parametric resonance. I describe a simple method to evaluate Floquet exponents, calculating stability diagrams of Mathieu and Lame equations describing development of instability in m22 and Delta *l4 preheating models. I discuss basic numerical methods and issues, and present simulation results highlighting non-equilibrium transitions, topological defect formation, late-time universality, turbulent scaling and approach to thermalization. I explain how preheating can generate large-scale primordial (non-Gaussian) curvature fluctuations manifest in cosmic microwave background anisotropy and large-scale structure, and discuss potentially observable signatures of preheating.
ISSN:0264-9381
DOI:10.1088/0264-9381/27/12/124006