Multifield Reheating after Modular $j$-Inflation

Abstract

In the inflationary framework of cosmology the initial phase of rapid expansion has to be followed by a reheating stage, which is envisioned to end in a radiation dominated big bang. Key parameters that characterize this big bang state are the temperature at the end of the reheating stage and the baryon asymmetry. For general interacting theories these parameters are difficult to obtain analytically because of the involved structure of the potential. In this paper multifield reheating is considered for interacting theories in which the inflaton trajectory is weakly curved. This scenario is realized in the model of $j$-inflation, a particular example of modular inflation, allowing an estimate of the reheat temperature.