Gravitational production of massive scalars in the context of inflation

Abstract

We set up a formalism for calculating the energy density generated in a quantized massive scalar field in the course of the drastic change in spacetime geometry at the end of the inflationary era. The calculation relies on the notion of adiabatic vacuum. The Bogolubov coefficients are computed by employing the sudden approximation. After obtaining a general formula, we calculate explicitly the energy density generated in a particle species with $m/H \ll1$, where $m$ is the particle mass and $H$ is the Hubble constant during the inflationary epoch. We find the contribution of the long-wavelength modes to be $\propto H^5/m$. If such particles are very weakly interacting, they can come to dominate the total energy density in the Universe. Other cosmological implications are also discussed.