The Inflaton and its Mass

TL;DR

This paper proposes a model where the inflaton is a fluctuation in mode density within a two-fluid space-time framework, linking its mass to degrees of freedom exchange akin to black hole evaporation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel two-fluid space-time fluctuation model where the inflaton's mass arises from degrees of freedom exchange, connecting cosmological inflation to black hole physics.

Findings

Estimated inflaton mass between 10^{-10} and 10^{-5} Planck masses.

Model links inflaton fluctuations to black hole evaporation processes.

Provides a semi-quantitative approach to inflaton mass estimation.

Abstract

In the context of the two fluid model of space-time fluctuations proposed to tame the transplanckian problem encountered in black hole physics, it is postulated that the inflaton is the fluctuation of mode density, ``the vapor component'' of the model. The mass of the inflaton is occasioned by the exchange of degrees of freedom between the ``vapor'' and the ``liquid'', the planckian ``soup'' in which usual ``cisplanckian'' fields propagate. This exchange between vacuum fluctuations is modeled after its counterpart in the real world i.e. black hole evaporation. In order of magnitude, a very rough semiquantitative estimate, would situate the mass somewhere between $10^{-10}$ and $10^{-5}$ planck masses, the largest uncertainty being the mass of the planckian black hole fluctuation i.e. the entropy that one ascribes to it.