Phase dynamics and particle production in preheating

Abstract

We study a simple model of a massive inflaton field $\phi$ coupled to another scalar filed $\chi$ with interaction term $g^2\phi^2\chi^2$. We use the theory developed by Kofman {\em et al.} (Phys. Rev. D {\bf 56} (1997) 3258 [arXiv:hep-ph/9704452])for the first stage of preheating to give a full description of the dynamics of the $\chi$ field modes, including the behaviour of the phase, in terms of the iteration of a simple family of circle maps. The parameters of this family of maps are a function of time when expansion of the universe is taken into account. With this more detailed description, we obtain a systematic study of the efficiency of particle production as a function of the inflaton field and coupling parameters, and we find that for $g \lesssim 3 \times 10^{-4}$ the broad resonance ceases during the first stage of preheating.