Can the Inflaton Also Be a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle?
Can the Inflaton Also Be a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle?
We propose a class of models in which a stable inflaton is produced as a thermal relic in the early Universe and constitutes the dark matter. We show that inflaton annihilations can efficiently reheat the Universe, and identify several examples of inflationary potentials that can accommodate all cosmic microwave background …