Simulating (p)reheating after inflation via the DCE?

TL;DR

This paper draws parallels between cosmological reheating processes and the dynamical Casimir effect, proposing an experiment to simulate (p)reheating using existing quantum optics technology.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analogy between (p)reheating in cosmology and the dynamical Casimir effect, suggesting a feasible experimental simulation.

Findings

Effective plasma mass mimics inflaton oscillations

Photon creation parallels scalar field dynamics

Proposed experiment can simulate narrow and broad resonance

Abstract

We note some close parallels between preheating/perturbative reheating, (p)reheating, models in post-inflationary cosmology and the dynamical Casimir effect (DCE) in quantum optics. For the plasma-mirror model we show how the effective plasma mass (arising from conduction electrons) behaves like an oscillating inflaton field, while created photons behave like a scalar field coupled quadratically to the inflaton. Furthermore, the effect of spacetime expansion can also be incorporated by varying the dielectric function. We propose an experiment that could mimic (p)reheating for both narrow and broad parametric resonance, by employing technology already being used in attempts to detect DCE photons via plasma-mirrors.