Inflatonic Q-ball evaporation: A new paradigm for reheating the Universe

Abstract

We show that the inflaton condensate associated with a global symmetry can fragment into quasi stable Q balls after the end of inflation, provided the inflaton oscillations give rise to an effective equation of state with negative pressure. We argue that chaotic inflation with a running inflaton mass may give rise to the desired scenario where the process of fragmentation into inflatonic Q balls can actually take place even though there is total zero charge. We show that such inflatonic Q balls will reheat the Universe to a sufficiently low temperature via surface evaporation.