Warming Up Cold Inflation

1 Sep 2021, 17:10
50m
Talk in parallel session Cosmology and particle physics Discussion Panel Cosmology 3

Speaker

Saarik Kalia (Stanford University)

Description

The axion is a well-motivated candidate for the inflaton, as the radiative corrections that spoil many single-field models are avoided by virtue of its shift symmetry. However, axions generically couple to gauge sectors. As the axion rolls through its potential, this coupling can result in the production of a co-evolving thermal bath, a situation known as "warm inflation." Inflationary dynamics in this warm regime can be dramatically altered and result in significantly different observable predictions. In this talk, I will show that for large regions of parameter space, axion inflation models once assumed to be safely "cold" are in fact warm, and must be reevaluated in this context.

Primary author

Saarik Kalia (Stanford University)

Co-authors

Prof. Peter Graham (Stanford University) Mr. William DeRocco (Stanford University)

Presentation Materials

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