V-mode polarization in axion inflation and preheating

2017/04/30 by Stephon Alexander, Evan McDonough, Robert Sims · 16 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Axion #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark matter #Fermion #Inflation (cosmology) #Inflaton #Particle physics #Photon #Physics #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Quantum electrodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Theoretical physics #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.96.063506

published in Physical review. D/Physical review. D. 96(6) (American Physical Society) · 17 pages. v2: typos corrected, references added. v3: added review section on circular polarization (section II), references added. Matches version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

arxiv created 2017/09/01 · openalex publication_date 2017/09/12 · arxiv updated 2017/09/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We study the production of primordial circular (``V-mode'') polarization in axion inflation coupled to fermions and gauge fields, with special attention paid to (p)reheating. We construct the power spectrum of V, and find a blue-tilted spectrum with index n_V=4. This is independent of the dominant decay channel of the inflaton (direct fermion vs direct photon production).

Citations

• Nonperturbative Dynamics Of Reheating After Inflation: A Review
• Cosmological magnetic fields: their generation, evolution and observation
• Rotation of linear polarization plane and circular polarization from cosmological pseudoscalar fields
• An improved upper limit to the CMB circular polarization at large angular scales
• Naturally inflating on steep potentials through electromagnetic dissipation
• Gauge-preheating and the end of axion inflation
• Planck 2015 results. XX. Constraints on inflation

Cited by

• Phenomenology of fermion production during axion inflation