Polynomial Inflation and Dark Matter

TL;DR

This paper introduces a minimal extension of the standard model with a scalar inflaton and fermionic dark matter, demonstrating compatibility with CMB data and viable dark matter production mechanisms.

Contribution

It presents a UV complete model embedding inflation and dark matter with a polynomial inflaton potential and analyzes reheating and dark matter generation mechanisms.

Findings

Inflaton potential fits CMB measurements.

Dark matter can be produced via inflaton decay.

Viable dark matter mass range spans from 10^{-5} to 10^{11} GeV.

Abstract

We present a minimal UV complete framework to embed inflation and dark matter by extending the standard model with a singlet real scalar field (the inflaton) and a singlet fermonic field acting as dark matter. The inflaton features the most general renormalizable polynomial up to quartic order, which is flat due to the existence of a perturbed inflection-point, comfortably fitting CMB measurements. We also analyze (p)reheating by considering the Higgs production via inflaton decay. In the early universe, dark matter can be generated by the mediation of gravitons or inflatons. However, the production via the direct decay of the inflatons dominates, making viable a large range of dark matter masses, from $\mathcal{O}(10^{-5})$ GeV to $\mathcal{O}(10^{11})$ GeV.