Francisco Torrentí: Cosmic inflation and the reheating of the universe

Francisco Torrentí offered this talk on December 9th, 2014, as part of the Student Seminar series of IFIC. "Cosmic inflation and the reheating of the universe" Francisco Torrentí (IFT UAM/CSIC) Abstract: The theory of cosmic inflation, developed by Alan Guth and Andrei Linde at the 1980s, postulates that the very early universe went through a phase of exponentially fast expansion. It solves the horizon and flatness problems of the Big Bang theory, and gives a natural explanation to the now observed large-scale structure of the cosmos. In the first part of the talk, I will review some of the basic notions of this theory. On the other hand, in the simplest models of inflation, the accelerated expansion is sustained by the slow-roll decay of a scalar field (the inflaton) towards the minimum of its potential. At this stage, this field is the only dominant component of the universe. However, as inflation ends, all particles must be created and the universe must become radiative. This process is known as the reheating of the universe, and it will be the topic of the second part of the talk. To find the slides please visit http://indico.ific.uv.es/indico/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=2388