Ricci Reheating Reloaded

TL;DR

This paper investigates a tachyonic Ricci-heating mechanism triggered by a Hubble-induced phase transition, using lattice simulations to derive practical equations for key cosmological parameters in inflation models.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive characterization of Ricci-heating, extending previous work with extensive simulations and formulates parametric equations to predict heating efficiency and related cosmological quantities.

Findings

Derived practical parametric equations for heating efficiency and temperature.

Performed extensive 3+1D lattice simulations to explore parameter space.

Identified key timescales and conditions for successful reheating in inflation models.

Abstract

A Hubble-induced phase transition is a natural spontaneous symmetry breaking mechanism allowing for explosive particle production in non-oscillatory models of inflation involving non-minimally coupled spectator fields. In this work, we perform a comprehensive characterisation of this type of transitions as a tachyonic Ricci-heating mechanism, significantly extending previous results in the literature. By performing $\mathcal{O}(100)$ 3+1-dimensional classical lattice simulations, we explore the parameter space of two exemplary scenarios, numerically determining the main timescales in the process. Based on these results, we formulate a set of parametric equations that offer a practical approach for determining the efficiency of the heating process, the temperature at the onset of radiation domination, and the minimum number of e-folds of inflation needed to resolve the flatness and horizon problems in specific quintessential inflation scenarios. These parametric equations eliminate the need for additional lattice simulations, providing a convenient and efficient method for evaluating these key quantities.