Tachyonic gravitational dark matter production after inflation
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arXiv
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| Autori principali: | , , |
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866910220285902848 |
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| author | Laverda, Giorgio Mendes, Tomás Rubio, Javier |
| author_facet | Laverda, Giorgio Mendes, Tomás Rubio, Javier |
| contents | We propose a novel gravitational mechanism for the non-thermal production of dark matter driven by curvature-induced tachyonic instabilities after inflation. Departing from the commonly studied non-minimal couplings to gravity, our framework considers a real spectator scalar field coupled quadratically to spacetime curvature invariants. We show that the rapid reorganization of spacetime curvature at the end of inflation can dynamically render the dark matter field tachyonic, triggering a short-lived phase of spontaneous symmetry breaking and explosive particle production. As a concrete and theoretically controlled example, we focus on the Gauss-Bonnet topological invariant. By combining analytical estimates with $3+1$ classical lattice simulations in the spectator field approximation, we track the out-of-equilibrium evolution of the system and compute the resulting dark matter abundance. We find that this purely gravitational mechanism can robustly reproduce the observed dark matter relic density over a wide range of masses and inflationary scales, providing also a simple fitting function that enables a lattice-independent application of our results. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2601_07670 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Tachyonic gravitational dark matter production after inflation Laverda, Giorgio Mendes, Tomás Rubio, Javier Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology We propose a novel gravitational mechanism for the non-thermal production of dark matter driven by curvature-induced tachyonic instabilities after inflation. Departing from the commonly studied non-minimal couplings to gravity, our framework considers a real spectator scalar field coupled quadratically to spacetime curvature invariants. We show that the rapid reorganization of spacetime curvature at the end of inflation can dynamically render the dark matter field tachyonic, triggering a short-lived phase of spontaneous symmetry breaking and explosive particle production. As a concrete and theoretically controlled example, we focus on the Gauss-Bonnet topological invariant. By combining analytical estimates with $3+1$ classical lattice simulations in the spectator field approximation, we track the out-of-equilibrium evolution of the system and compute the resulting dark matter abundance. We find that this purely gravitational mechanism can robustly reproduce the observed dark matter relic density over a wide range of masses and inflationary scales, providing also a simple fitting function that enables a lattice-independent application of our results. |
| title | Tachyonic gravitational dark matter production after inflation |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.07670 |