Achieving the highest temperature during reheating with the Higgs condensate

We study the role of the Standard Model Higgs condensate, formed during cosmological inflation, in the epoch of reheating that follows. We focus on the scenario where the inflaton decays slowly and perturbatively, so that there is a long period between the end of inflation and the beginning of radiation domination. The Higgs condensate decays nonperturbatively during this period, and we show that it heats the primordial plasma to much higher temperatures than would result from the slowly decaying inflaton alone. We discuss the effect of this hot plasma on the thermalization of the inflaton's decay products, and study its phenomenological implications for the formation of cosmological relics like dark matter, with associated isocurvature fluctuations, and the restoration of the electroweak and Peccei-Quinn symmetries.

Automated summary

This study focuses on the role of the Standard Model Higgs condensate during the period of reheating after cosmological inflation, showing its significant impact on heating the primordial plasma to higher temperatures. The research also discusses the implications of this hot plasma on the thermalization of the inflaton's decay products, as well as on the formation of cosmological relics like dark matter and the restoration of electroweak and Peccei-Quinn symmetries.