arXiv subjects

Marcos A. G. Garcia

Publications and source records attributed to Marcos A. G. Garcia.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

A multi-axion model of inflation and dark matter

Models with extra dimensions include a tower of massive states that unavoidably contribute to cosmological dynamics. In particular, after compactification, a higher-dimensional axion gives rise to a set of states whose dynamics at early times exhibit the properties of inflation and, at late times, those of dynamical dark matter. Interestingly, natural choices of parameters imply that the inflationary trajectory in field space is approximately geodesic, meaning that inflation is effectively driven by a single inflaton corresponding to the heaviest state. In this scenario, all inflationary observables, including the emerging spectral distortions, are consistent with current observational constraints, and exact numerical solutions of the equations of motion show that reheating can consistently proceed down to temperatures of a few MeV. Furthermore, all states lighter than the inflaton only come to dominate the energy density of the Universe during the matter-dominated era, thus behaving as dark matter at late times. These states undergo a cascade of decays into radiation, while maintaining a sufficient dark-matter abundance to account for the observed relic density. The lightest dark-matter candidate remains stable on timescales far exceeding the age of the Universe, thereby satisfying even the most conservative observational constraints.

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arXiv2026

Fermion (non)reheating with a quartic inflaton potential

Any viable inflationary model must account for reheating of the universe prior to the onset of primordial nucleosynthesis. In this work, we study the (p)reheating mechanism for an inflaton field with a quartic minimum of the T-model kind with coupling $λ$, prior to and post fragmentation, making a clear distinction between the two regimes. We assume that the main particle production channel corresponds to the decay into a pair of spin 1/2 fermions via Yukawa-like interactions. On top of its decays, we also consider the self-interaction of the inflaton, which sources the resonant growth of inflaton inhomogeneities, possibly leading to its eventual fragmentation. By means of a combination of non-perturbative (Heisenberg/Bogoliubov) and perturbative (Boltzmann) methods, we find that for Yukawa couplings that seemed to be intuitively perturbative, such as $y\gtrsim 10^{-8}$ ($y^2/λ\gtrsim 3\times10^{-5}$), parametric resonance, kinematic blocking, and Pauli suppression effects cannot be ignored. Additionally, we show that achieving $ρ_ϕ\sim ρ_ψ$ prior to fragmentation requires large couplings, $y\gtrsim 0.2$ ($y^2/λ\gtrsim 10^{10}$), which needs a detailed study of backreaction and radiative corrections. Thus the rest of our work constitutes studying post-fragmentation fermion production where we conclude that, in general, reheating in this setup is not possible and thus we conclude that in order to successfully reheat, one must invoke a coupling to a integer- and/or 0-spin particle like a scalar boson.

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arXiv2026

Leptogenesis and Low Reheating Temperatures

We study leptogenesis during non-instantaneous reheating in the canonical type-I seesaw framework, with the dominant source of right-handed neutrino (RHN) production being non-thermal from inflaton decays ($ϕ\rightarrow NN$). While matter-like reheating ($w_ϕ=0$) fails to be compatible with standard leptogenesis for very low reheating temperatures, the situation is strikingly different for generalized Starobinsky potentials approximated by $V(ϕ)\proptoϕ^k$ with $k\geq4$ about the minimum. In the latter cases, the observed baryon asymmetry can readily be obtained for arbitrarily low reheating temperatures above the BBN bound of $\sim4$ MeV. We study radiation-like reheating ($w_ϕ=1/3$, $k=4$) in detail, showing that the evolving effective mass of the inflaton condensate leads to kinematic shutoff of the $ϕ\rightarrow NN$ channel, which qualitatively changes the leptogenesis dynamics. We include a detailed treatment of the effects of fragmentation of the inflaton condensate. The final baryon asymmetry depends primarily on only two parameters: the inflaton-RHN coupling, $y_{ϕNN}$, and the CP-violating parameter $|ε|$. Interestingly, the final asymmetry is largely insensitive to the RHN mass, the reheating temperature, and the RHN decay rate. While we focus on fermionic reheating, we show that the general features of these results also hold for bosonic reheating to scalars.

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arXiv2026

Gravitational Waves from Matter Perturbations of Spectator Scalar Fields

We compute the stochastic gravitational wave background sourced at second order by a spectator scalar field $χ$ coupled to the inflaton $ϕ$ through a portal interaction $σϕ^2χ^2$ and with quartic self-interaction $λ_χχ^4/4!$. In the large portal coupling regime ($σ/λ\gg 1$, with $λ$ the inflaton normalization), parametric resonance during reheating amplifies the spectator power spectrum by many orders of magnitude near the resonance band until Hartree backreaction from the quartic coupling detunes the instability, while the large inflationary effective mass suppresses superhorizon power and ensures compatibility with CMB isocurvature bounds. We focus on the direct field-gradient source $\partial_aχ\,\partial_bχ$ in the second-order Einstein equations and derive a master formula that factorizes into a spectral integral over the frozen, vacuum-subtracted spectator spectrum and a time integral encoding the post-inflationary expansion history. For our benchmark reheating history we obtain analytic scaling relations, including a peak amplitude $Ω_{\rm GW}\propto T_{\rm reh}^{8/3}$, strong dependence on the portal strength, and weak sensitivity to $m_χ$. We validate the framework against nonlinear lattice simulations, demonstrating complementarity: the Hartree treatment captures superhorizon evolution inaccessible to the lattice, while the lattice resolves rescattering and fragmentation near the spectral peak. For $σ/λ\simeq 10^4$ and $T_{\rm reh}=2 \times 10^{14}\,\mathrm{GeV}$, the signal reaches $Ω_{\rm GW}h^2\sim 10^{-11}$ at $f\sim10^{7}$-$10^{8}\,\mathrm{Hz}$. Increasing $λ_χ$ at fixed $σ$ has a non-monotonic effect: small values enhance the signal via rescattering, whereas larger values suppress it by detuning the resonance.

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arXiv2025

Gravitational Waves from Isocurvature Perturbations of Spectator Scalar Fields

We present a mechanism for gravitational wave (GW) production from isocurvature perturbations in spectator scalar fields during inflation. These energetically subdominant fields develop blue-tilted power spectra through inflationary dynamics, generating second-order scalar perturbations that source a stochastic GW background. The mechanism naturally satisfies CMB constraints at large scales while producing enhanced signals at smaller scales across a broad frequency range $10^{-20} - 1$ Hz. We perform comprehensive numerical and analytical calculations of the complete isocurvature spectrum evolution, including gravitational particle production, reheating dynamics, and scalar-induced GW generation. For spectator fields with effective masses $0.5 \lesssim m_{χ,\mathrm{eff}}/H_I$, the resulting GW energy density reaches $Ω_{\text{GW}} h^2 \sim 10^{-20}$-$10^{-12}$, accessible to pulsar timing arrays, space-based interferometers, and next-generation CMB experiments. Our analysis reveals that GW-induced constraints exceed current isocurvature bounds. We examine both unstable (curvaton-like) and stable (dark matter) spectator fields, demonstrating strong sensitivity to reheating temperature, inflaton-spectator coupling, and decay dynamics. This framework establishes isocurvature-sourced GWs as a powerful probe of early universe physics, enabling simultaneous constraints on inflationary dynamics, dark matter production, and reheating through coordinated multi-frequency GW observations.

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arXiv2025

Constraints on Attractor Models of Inflation and Reheating from Planck, BICEP/Keck, ACT DR6, and SPT-3G Data

We analyze the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints on the scalar spectral index $n_s$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ from Planck 2018, BICEP/Keck 2018, the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Data Release 6 (ACT DR6), and the South Pole Telescope (SPT-3G) data, focusing on their implications for attractor models of inflation. We compare systematically observational bounds with theoretical predictions for both E-model ($α$-Starobinsky) and T-model potentials. The observational constraints accommodate E-models with $α\lesssim 25$, with the canonical Starobinsky model ($α= 1$) predicting $n_s = 0.958-0.963$ for reheating temperatures between $100 - 10^{10}$ GeV, in good agreement with Planck 2018 data and within the 95% CL region determined by the Planck-ACT-SPT combination, but below the 95% confidence region of the Planck-ACT-DESI combination. Higher reheating temperatures from near-instantaneous reheating improve the compatibility. T-models predict slightly lower $n_s$ values (0.956-0.961), in some tension with Planck 2018 data, and we find an upper limit of $α\lesssim 11$ in these models. We extend our analysis to generalized $α$-attractors with monomial potentials $V(φ) \propto φ^k$ near the minimum, demonstrating that models with $k \geq 6$ naturally predict $n_s \simeq 0.965 - 0.968$ for typical number of $e$-folds, in better agreement with the ACT DR6 data. We also consider deformed E- and T-models, which allow significantly higher values of $n_s$ for low values of $α\simeq 1$.

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arXiv2025

Deformations of Starobinsky Inflation in No-Scale SU(5) and SO(10) GUTs

The original Starobinsky $R + R^2$ model of inflation is consistent with Planck and other measurements of the CMB, but recent results from the ACT and SPT Collaborations hint that the tilt of scalar perturbations may be in tension with the prediction of the Starobinsky model. No-scale models of inflation can reproduce the predictions of the Starobinsky model, but also provide a framework for incorporating deformations that could accommodate more easily the ACT and SPT data. We discuss this possibility in the contexts of SU(5) GUTs, taking into account the constraints on these models imposed by the longevity of the proton, the cold dark matter density and the measured value of the Higgs boson. We find that SU(5) with a CMSSM-like pattern of soft supersymmetry breaking has difficulty in accommodating all the constraints, whereas SU(5) with pure gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking can accommodate them easily. We also consider two SO(10) symmetry-breaking patterns that can accommodate the ACT and SPT data. In both the SU(5) and SO(10) models, the deformations avoid issues associated with large initial field values in the Starobinsky model: in particular, the total number of e-folds is largely independent of the initial conditions.

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arXiv2025

Gravitational Waves from Spectator Scalar Fields

We propose a novel mechanism for gravitational wave (GW) production sourced by spectator scalar fields during inflation. These fields, while not driving cosmic expansion, generate blue-tilted isocurvature fluctuations that naturally satisfy current CMB constraints at large scales while producing enhanced power spectra at smaller scales accessible to GW detectors. The resulting GW spectrum spans an exceptionally broad frequency range from $10^{-20}$ to $1$ Hz, with amplitudes ranging from $Ω_{\text{GW}}h^2 \sim 10^{-20}$ to $10^{-12}$ depending on the reheating temperature and spectator field mass. For heavy spectator fields with effective masses near the inflationary Hubble scale $H_I$, the mechanism produces observable signals across multiple detector bands accessible to pulsar timing arrays, space-based interferometers, and ground-based detectors. Our analysis reveals multiple complementary constraints on spectator field parameters. GW-induced limits on the effective number of relativistic species ($ΔN_{\text{eff}}$) require $m_χ\gtrsim 0.61 H_I$, stronger than CMB isocurvature bounds alone ($m_χ\gtrsim 0.54 H_I$). The non-observation of primordial B-modes by \textit{Planck} provides stronger constraints $m_χ\gtrsim 0.66 H_I$, with projected LiteBIRD sensitivity potentially reaching $m_χ\gtrsim 0.70 H_I$. This mechanism enables a unique multi-messenger probe of beyond the Standard Model physics during inflation, providing simultaneous constraints on inflationary dynamics, dark matter production, and reheating through current and next-generation GW experiments.

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arXiv2025

Scalar Field Fluctuations and the Production of Dark Matter

One of the simplest possible candidates for dark matter is a stable scalar singlet beyond the Standard Model. If its mass is below the Hubble scale during inflation, long-wavelength modes of this scalar will be excited during inflation, and their subsequent evolution may lead to the correct relic density of dark matter. In this work, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of a spectator scalar. We examine three cases: (1) a non-interacting massive scalar, (2) a massive scalar with self-interactions of the form $λ_χχ^p$, and (3) a massive scalar coupled to the inflaton $ϕ$ through an interaction term of the form $σ_{n,m} ϕ^n χ^m$. In all cases, we assume minimal coupling to gravity and compare these results with the production of short-wavelength modes arising from single graviton exchange. The evolution is tracked during the reheating phase. Our findings are summarized using $(m_χ, T_{\rm RH})$ parameter planes, where $m_χ$ is the mass of the scalar field and $T_{\rm RH}$ is the reheating temperature after inflation. The non-interacting scalar is highly constrained, requiring $m_χ> 3 \times 10^{12}~\rm {GeV}$ and $ T_{\rm RH} \lesssim 7~\text{TeV}$ for an inflationary potential with a quadratic minimum. However, when self-interactions or couplings to the inflaton are included, the viable parameter space expands considerably. In these cases, sub-GeV and even sub-eV scalar masses can yield the correct relic abundance, opening new possibilities for light dark matter candidates. In all cases, we also impose additional constraints arising from the production of isocurvature fluctuations, the prevention of a secondary inflationary phase triggered by the spectator field, and the fragmentation of scalar condensates.

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arXiv2024

Gravitational wave signatures of post-fragmentation reheating

After cosmic inflation, coherent oscillations of the inflaton field about a monomial potential $V(ϕ)\sim ϕ^k$ result in an expansion phase characterized by a stiff equation-of-state $w\simeq(k-2)/(k+2)$. Sourced by the oscillating inflaton condensate, parametric (self)resonant effects can induce the exponential growth of inhomogeneities eventually backreacting and leading to the fragmentation of the condensate. In this work, we investigate realizations of inflation giving rise to such dynamics, assuming an inflaton weakly coupled to its decay products. As a result, the transition to a radiation-dominated universe, i.e. reheating, occurs after fragmentation. We estimate the consequences on the production of gravitational waves by computing the contribution induced by the stiff equation-of-state era in addition to the signal generated by the fragmentation process for $k=4,6,8,10$. We find that the signal generated during the fragmentation process gives a larger contribution than the one induced by the stiff equation-of-state era in given frequency ranges for all values of $k$. Our results are independent of the reheating temperature provided that reheating is achieved posterior to fragmentation. Our work shows that the dynamics of such weakly-coupled inflaton scenario can actually result in characteristic gravitational wave spectra with frequencies from Hz to GHz, in the reach of future gravitational wave observatories, in addition to the complementarity between upcoming detectors in discriminating (post)inflation scenarios. We advocate the need of developing high-frequency gravitational wave detectors to gain insight into the dynamics of inflation and reheating.

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arXiv2024

Impact of Dark Sector Preheating on CMB Observables

The prediction of a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of curvature and tensor fluctuations is among the main features of cosmic inflation. The current measurements of the primordial fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) provide tight constraints on the amplitude of the scalar and tensor spectra, and the scalar tilt. However, the precise connection between these observables and a given inflationary model, depends on the expansion history between the end of inflation and the beginning of the radiation dominated era, which corresponds to the reheating epoch. This mapping between horizon exit and reentry of fluctuations, parametrized by the number of $e$-folds $N_*$, can therefore be affected by the presence of a transient epoch of non-perturbative particle production during reheating ({\em preheating}). Using a combination of perturbative and lattice computations, we quantify the impact of preheating in a non-equilibrated dark matter sector on the CMB observables, under the assumption of a simultaneous perturbative decay of the inflaton into Standard Model particles. Combined with structure formation constraints, this allows us to impose stringent bounds on the post-inflationary reheating temperature.

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arXiv2024

Inflaton Production of Scalar Dark Matter through Fluctuations and Scattering

We study the effects on particle production of a Planck-suppressed coupling between the inflaton and a scalar dark matter candidate, $χ$. In the absence of this coupling, the dominant source for the relic density of $χ$ is the long wavelength modes produced from the scalar field fluctuations during inflation. In this case, there are strong constraints on the mass of the scalar and the reheating temperature after inflation from the present-day relic density of $χ$ (assuming $χ$ is stable). When a coupling $σϕ^2 χ^2$ is introduced, with $σ= {\tilde σ} m_ϕ^2/ M_P^2 \sim 10^{-10} {\tilde σ}$, where $m_ϕ$ is the inflaton mass, the allowed parameter space begins to open up considerably even for ${\tilde σ}$ as small as $\gtrsim 10^{-7}$. For ${\tilde σ} \gtrsim \frac{9}{16}$, particle production is dominated by the scattering of the inflaton condensate, either through single graviton exchange or the contact interaction between $ϕ$ and $χ$. In this regime, the range of allowed masses and reheating temperatures is maximal. For $0.004 < {\tilde σ} < 50$, constraints from isocurvature fluctuations are satisfied, and the production from parametric resonance can be neglected.

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arXiv2024

Inflaton decay in No-Scale Supergravity and Starobinsky-like models

We consider the decay of the inflaton in Starobinsky-like models arising from either an $R+R^2$ theory of gravity or $N=1$ no-scale supergravity models. If Standard Model matter is simply introduced to the $R + R^2$ theory, the inflaton (which appears when the theory is conformally transformed to the Einstein frame) couples to matter predominantly in Standard Model Higgs kinetic terms. This will typically lead to a reheating temperature of $\sim 3 \times 10^9$~GeV. However, if the Standard Model Higgs is conformally coupled to curvature, the decay rate may be suppressed and vanishes for a conformal coupling $ξ= 1/6$. Nevertheless, inflaton decays through the conformal anomaly leading to a reheating temperature of order $10^8$~GeV. The Starobinsky potential may also arise in no-scale supergravity. In this case, the inflaton decays if there is a direct coupling of the inflaton to matter in the superpotential or to gauge fields through the gauge kinetic function. We also discuss the relation between the theories and demonstrate the correspondence between the no-scale models and the conformally coupled $R+R^2$ theory (with $ξ= 1/6$).

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arXiv2024

Spectral distortions from promising single and multifield inflationary models

Forthcoming missions probing the absolute intensity of the CMB are expected to be able to measure spectral distortions, which are deviations from its blackbody distribution. As cosmic inflation can induce spectral distortions, these experiments offer a possibility to further test the various promising inflationary proposals, whose predictions need to be carefully determined. After numerically fitting all inflationary observables to match current observations, we compute the predicted spectral distortions of various promising single and multifield inflationary models. The predictions of single-field inflationary models display deviations between 0.5% and 20% with respect to the standard cosmological model in the observable window, where multi-natural and axion-monodromy inflation stand out in this respect. In the case of multifield inflation, we observe a richer structure of the power spectrum, which, in the case of so-called hybrid attractors, yields spectral distortions about 100 times more intense than the standard signal. These observations open up questions about the relation among our results and other cosmological observables that are also to be probed soon, such as the production of primordial black holes and gravitational waves.

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arXiv2024

Bare mass effects on the reheating process after inflation

We consider the effects of a bare mass term for the inflaton, when the inflationary potential takes the form $V(ϕ)= λϕ^k$ about its minimum with $k \ge 4$. We concentrate on $k=4$, but discuss general cases as well. Further, we assume $λϕ_{\rm end}^2 \gg m_ϕ^2$, where $ϕ_{\rm end}$ is the inflaton field value when the inflationary expansion ends. We show that the presence of a mass term (which may be present due to radiative corrections or supersymmetry breaking) can significantly alter the reheating process, as the equation of state of the inflaton condensate changes from $w_ϕ=\frac{1}{3}$ to $w_ϕ=0$ when $λϕ^2$ drops below $m_ϕ^2$. We show that for a mass $m_ϕ\gtrsim T_{\rm RH}/250$, the mass term will dominate at reheating. We compute the effects on the reheating temperature for cases where reheating is due to inflaton decay (to fermions, scalars, or vectors) or to inflaton scattering (to scalars or vectors). For scattering to scalars and in the absence of a decay, we derive a strong upper limit to the inflaton bare mass $m_ϕ< 350~{\rm MeV} (T_{\rm RH}/10^{10}~{\rm GeV})^{3/5}$, as there is always a residual inflaton background which acts as cold dark matter. We also consider the effect of the bare mass term on the fragmentation of the inflaton condensate.

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arXiv2024

A New Window into Gravitationally Produced Scalar Dark Matter

Conventional scenarios of purely gravitationally produced dark matter with masses below the Hubble parameter at the end of inflation are in tension with Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) constraints on the isocurvature power spectrum. We explore a more general scenario with a non-minimal coupling between the scalar dark matter field and gravity, which allows for significantly lighter scalar dark matter masses compared to minimal coupling predictions. By imposing relic abundance, isocurvature, Lyman-$α$, and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) constraints, we show the viable parameter space for these models. Our findings demonstrate that the presence of a non-minimal coupling expands the parameter space, yielding a dark matter mass lower bound of $2 \times 10^{-4} \, \rm{eV}$.

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arXiv2023

Effects of Fragmentation on Post-Inflationary Reheating

We consider the effects of fragmentation on the post-inflationary epoch of reheating. In simple single field models of inflation, an inflaton condensate undergoes an oscillatory phase once inflationary expansion ends. The equation of state of the condensate depends on the shape of the scalar potential, $V(ϕ)$, about its minimum. Assuming $V(ϕ) \sim ϕ^k$, the equation of state parameter is given by $w = P_ϕ/ρ_ϕ= (k-2)/(k+2)$. The evolution of condensate and the reheating process depend on $k$. For $k \ge 4$, inflaton self-interactions may lead to the fragmentation of the condensate and alter the reheating process. Indeed, these self-interactions lead to the production of a massless gas of inflaton particles as $w$ relaxes to 1/3. If reheating occurs before fragmentation, the effects of fragmentation are harmless. We find, however, that the effects of fragmentation depend sensitively to the specific reheating process. Reheating through the decays to fermions is largely excluded since perturbative couplings would imply that fragmentation occurs before reheating and in fact could prevent reheating from completion. Reheating through the decays to boson is relatively unaffected by fragmentation and reheating through scatterings results in a lower reheating temperature.

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arXiv2023

The Role of Vectors in Reheating

We explore various aspects concerning the role of vector bosons during the reheating process. Generally, reheating occurs during the period of oscillations of the inflaton condensate and the evolution of the radiation bath depends on the inflaton equation of state. For oscillations about a quadratic minimum, the equation of state parameter, $w = p/ρ=0$, and the evolution of the temperature, $T(a)$ with respect to the scale factor is independent of the spin of the inflaton decay products. However, for cases when $w>0$, there is a dependence on the spin, and here we consider the evolution when the inflaton decays or scatters to vector bosons. We also investigate the gravitational production of vector bosons as potential dark matter candidates. Gravitational production predominantly occurs through the longitudinal mode. We compare these results to the gravitational production of scalars.

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