CERN Accelerating science

Article
Report number	hep-ph/9910437 ; FERMILAB-PUB-99-308-A ; CERN-TH-99-302 ; CERN-TH-99-302 ; FERMILAB-PUB-99-308-A
Title	Probing Planckian physics : resonant production of particles during inflation and features in the primordial power spectrum
Author(s)	Chung, Daniel J.H. (Michigan U.) ; Kolb, Edward W. (Fermilab ; Chicago U., Astron. Astrophys. Ctr. ; Chicago U., EFI) ; Riotto, Antonio (CERN) ; Tkachev, Igor I. (CERN ; Moscow, INR)
Affiliation	(Univ. Michigan Ann Arbor) ; (Fermilab. and Univ. Chicago) ; (CERN)
Publication	2000
Imprint	22 Oct 1999
Number of pages	19
Note	19 pages, 11 eps figures Report-no: FNAL-Pub-99/308-A; CERN-TH/99-302
In:	Phys. Rev. D 62 (2000) 043508
DOI	10.1103/PhysRevD.62.043508
Subject category	Particle Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract	The phenomenon of resonant production of particles {\it 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 {\em 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 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.

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