Inflationary Reheating and Fermions

Abstract

Coherent oscillations of the inflaton field at the end of inflation can parametrically excite fermions in much the same way that bosons are created in preheating. Although Pauli-blocking prohibits the occupation number of created fermions from growing exponentially, fermion production occurs in a manner significantly different from the expectations of simple perturbation theory. Here, I discuss the nature of fermion production after inflation and possible applications including the efficient transfer of inflaton energy and the production of super-massive fermions during fermionic preheating.

Comments: 3 pages, LaTeX, uses aipproc.sty and epsf.sty, 4 eps figs included. Based on an invited talk at the 2nd International Workshop on Particle Physics and the Early Universe (Cosmo-98), Monterey CA, Nov. 1998. Proceedings in press