Reheating via a generalized non-minimal coupling of curvature to matter

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a generalized non-minimal coupling between curvature and matter can support Starobinsky inflation and facilitate preheating through parametric resonance, extending existing reheating mechanisms.

Contribution

It introduces a new model of non-minimal coupling that naturally enables preheating, unifying and extending previous approaches in inflationary cosmology.

Findings

Supports Starobinsky inflation with non-minimal coupling

Enables successful preheating via parametric resonance

Extends previous preheating models with a generalized coupling mechanism

Abstract

In this work one shows that a generalized non-minimal coupling between geometry and matter is compatible with Starobinsky inflation and leads to a successful process of preheating, a reheating scenario based on the production of massive particles via parametric resonance. The model naturally extends the usual preheating mechanism, which resorts to an {\it ad-hoc} scalar curvature-dependent mass term for a scalar field $\chi$, and also encompasses a previously studied preheating channel based upon a non-standard kinetic term.