A complete cosmic scenario from inflation to late time acceleration: Non-equilibrium thermodynamics in the context of particle creation

TL;DR

This paper explores a unified cosmic evolution model from inflation to late-time acceleration using non-equilibrium thermodynamics with particle creation, demonstrating transitions between different cosmic eras and linking particle creation to Hawking radiation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel framework combining Israel-Stewart thermodynamics with particle creation rates to model the entire cosmic history from inflation to acceleration.

Findings

Transition from inflation to radiation era demonstrated

Cosmic evolution can be continuous via parameter adjustment

Particle creation during inflation linked to Hawking radiation

Abstract

The paper deals with the mechanism of particle creation in the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. The second order non-equilibrium thermodynamical prescription of Israel and Stewart has been presented with particle creation rate, treated as the dissipative effect. In the background of a flat FRW model, we assume the non-equilibrium thermodynamical process to be isentropic so that the entropy per particle does not change and consequently the dissipative pressure can be expressed linearly in terms of the particle creation rate. Here the dissipative pressure behaves as a dynamical variable having a non-linear inhomogeneous evolution equation and the entropy flow vector satisfies the second law of thermodynamics. Further, using the Friedmann equations and by proper choice of the particle creation rate as a function of the Hubble parameter, it is possible to show (separately) a transition from the inflationary phase to the radiation era and also from matter dominated era to late time acceleration. Also, in analogy to analytic continuation, it is possible to show a continuous cosmic evolution from inflation to late time acceleration by adjusting the parameters. It is found that in the de Sitter phase, the comoving entropy increases exponentially with time, keeping entropy per particle unchanged. Subsequently, the above cosmological scenarios has been described from field theoretic point of view by introducing a scalar field having self interacting potential. Finally, we make an attempt to show the cosmological phenomenon of particle creation as Hawking radiation, particularly during the inflationary era.