Revisiting Barrow?s graduated inflationary universe: A warm perspective

It is presumed that thermal fluctuations present during inflationary epoch can make inflaton scalar field to interact with other fields resulting in the existence of a thermal component during the inflationary period. The presence of this thermal component assists structure formation and reduces reheating dependence as in the contemporary inflationary paradigm. This is known as warm inflation. In 1990 J.D. Barrow [26] considered a scenario of inflation with matter field having a phenomenological equation of state of the type p + p = gamma p(lambda), gamma &NOTEQUexpressionL; 0 and lambda constant. He called such inflationary scenarios as graduated inflation . In this work we reconsider the above equation of state in a scenario of warm inflation. Our aim would be to investigate and understand whether such matter can also act as a viable candidate for warm inflation. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.

Automated summary

The article discusses the potential impact of thermal fluctuations during the inflationary period on structure formation and reheating dependence, known as warm inflation. It revisits a specific equation of state in the context of warm inflation to investigate whether such matter could serve as a viable candidate for warm inflation.