Probing Planckian physics: Resonant production of particles during inflation and features in the primordial power spectrum

Daniel J. H. Chung, Edward W. Kolb, Antonio Riotto, Igor I. Tkachev
2000 Physical Review D, Particles and fields  
The phenomenon of resonant production of particles after inflation has received much attention in the past few years. In a new application of resonant production of particles, we consider the effect of a resonance during inflation. We show that if the inflaton is coupled to a massive particle, resonant production of the particle during inflation modifies the evolution of the inflaton, and may leave an imprint in the form of sharp features in the primordial power spectrum. Precision measurements
more » ... of microwave background anisotropies and large-scale structure surveys could be sensitive to the features, and probe the spectrum of particles as massive as the Planck scale.
doi:10.1103/physrevd.62.043508 fatcat:oo6kp3r6krctfe2wxu3qui2qae