Effects of Reheating on Charged Lepton Yukawa Equilibration and Leptogenesis

TL;DR

This paper investigates how non-instantaneous reheating after inflation influences charged lepton Yukawa equilibration, potentially altering the flavor regimes in leptogenesis scenarios in the early Universe.

Contribution

It highlights the significant impact of prolonged reheating on lepton flavor effects in leptogenesis, a factor often overlooked in standard models.

Findings

Reheating duration affects lepton Yukawa equilibration temperature.

Reheating can shift the flavor regimes of leptogenesis.

Implications for the understanding of matter-antimatter asymmetry.

Abstract

We show that the process of non-instantaneous reheating during the post-inflationary period can have a sizable impact on the charged lepton Yukawa equilibration temperature in the early Universe. This suggests relooking the effects of lepton flavors in the leptogenesis scenario where the production and decay of right-handed neutrinos take place within this prolonged era of reheating. We find this observation has the potential to shift the flavor regime(s) of leptogenesis compared to the standard thermal scenario.