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arXiv · 2508.16538

Probing the Perturbative Reheating History of Decaying Oscillatory Inflation with ACT Constraints

Li-Yang Chen·Rongrong Zhai·Feng-Yi Zhang
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Abstract

Precision measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) now offer a powerful probe of the unknown reheating epoch. In this work, we scrutinize a decaying oscillatory inflation model inspired by supergravity, replacing standard ad hoc reheating assumptions with a fully dynamical calculation based on perturbative inflaton decay. By numerically tracking the energy transfer and the evolution of the equation of state, we eliminate the theoretical degeneracy associated with the reheating duration, directly linking the microphysical decay rate $\Gamma$ to the observable spectral index $n_s$. We confront these self-consistent predictions with the combined constraints from Planck 2018 and ACT DR6. Our analysis demonstrates that the viable parameter space is tightly bracketed: the thermalization requirement from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis imposes a strict lower bound on the coupling strength, while the latest ACT data strongly favor scenarios with efficient reheating ($T_{\text{re}} \gtrsim 10^{14}$ GeV), effectively pushing the model towards the instantaneous reheating limit. This study highlights the capability of modern CMB data to constrain the particle physics nature of the early universe.

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Li-Yang Chen, Rongrong Zhai, Feng-Yi Zhang. 2025-08-22. Probing the Perturbative Reheating History of Decaying Oscillatory Inflation with ACT Constraints. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dark.2026.102247

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