Sensing the Inflationary Production of Scalars
Abstract
We review the mechanism by which loops of matter fields contribute to the graviton self-energy during de Sitter inflation. This self-energy is used to quantum-correct the linearized Einstein equations. A Green's function method is employed to obtain exact 1-loop corrections to the plane wave mode functions of gravitational radiation, subject to the usual ambiguity in the initial state. Conformally coupled matter, which does not experience inflationary particle production, makes only a logarithmic enhancement of the rate at which the imaginary part of the mode function goes to zero after horizon crossing. These corrections can be understood, and even summed up, using a variant of the renormalization group. However, massless, minimally coupled scalars, which experience massive inflationary particle production, induce a much stronger enhancement of the rate at which the real part of the mode function approaches a constant. One interpretation of this effect is as a shift of the inflationary Hubble parameter.
Related
- IR flow of stochastic power spectra for interacting spectator scalars in the inflationary de Sitter spacetime
- Production of lepton-flavor-violating scalars through resonant positive-muon annihilation on atomic electrons
- Finite-duration non-slow-roll effects in inflationary production of ultralight vector dark matter
- Probing pair production of long-lived scalars via an off-shell Standard-Model-like Higgs boson at the LHC
- Search for pair production of additional neutral scalars within the Inert Doublet Model in a final state with two electrons or two muons in proton-proton collisions at √s = 13 TeV and 13.6 TeV
BibTeX
@misc{foraci2026sensing,
title = {{Sensing the Inflationary Production of Scalars}},
author = {A. J. Foraci and C. Litos and R. P. Woodard},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2606.17963},
eprint = {2606.17963},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.17963},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sensing the Inflationary Production of Scalars
AU - A. J. Foraci
AU - C. Litos
AU - R. P. Woodard
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/26
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2606.17963
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.17963
AB - We review the mechanism by which loops of matter fields contribute to the graviton self-energy during de Sitter inflation. This self-energy is used to quantum-correct the linearized Einstein equations. A Green's function method is employed to obtain exact 1-loop corrections to the plane wave mode functions of gravitational radiation, subject to the usual ambiguity in the initial state. Conformally coupled matter, which does not experience inflationary particle production, makes only a logarithmic enhancement of the rate at which the imaginary part of the mode function goes to zero after horizon crossing. These corrections can be understood, and even summed up, using a variant of the renormalization group. However, massless, minimally coupled scalars, which experience massive inflationary particle production, induce a much stronger enhancement of the rate at which the real part of the mode function approaches a constant. One interpretation of this effect is as a shift of the inflationary Hubble parameter.
ER -