Canonical Scalar Field Inflation with a Woods-Saxon Potential

TL;DR

This paper proposes a canonical scalar field inflation model using a Woods-Saxon potential, demonstrating compatibility with Planck data and analyzing the reheating phase to assess its viability.

Contribution

It introduces a novel inflationary model with a Woods-Saxon potential and evaluates its observational consistency and post-inflation reheating behavior.

Findings

Model's spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio align with Planck data.

The scalar field's graceful exit coincides with the potential's inflection point.

Reheating analysis shows the model is viable but does not support instantaneous reheating.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the realization of an inflationary model from a canonical scalar field theory with a Woods-Saxon potential, in the slow-roll approximation. Our analysis indicates that the observable quantities derived theoretically from our model, namely the spectral index of the primordial scalar curvature perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, are compatible with the latest Planck collaboration data. We also discuss the qualitative features of the potential, and we show that the value of the scalar field for which the graceful exit occurs, coincides with the inflection point of the scalar potential. We also attempt to study the post-inflation reheating phase of the model, in order to further examine the viability of the Woods-Saxon scalar field model, and as we demonstrate the results indicate viability of the model for this era too, however the instantaneous reheating is not allowed for the model at hand.