Speaker
Description
Reheating, the period following inflation, marks the transition where the inflaton decays, populating the early universe with matter and radiation.
This phase remains relatively unexplored due to the absence of direct observational evidence and the complex, non-linear dynamics involved.
This talk will examine the characteristics and constraints of the reheating phase.
As reheating typically unfolds in multiple stages, I will describe the general features of the stages, drawing on some results from lattice simulations.
I will describe how the reheating phase can be linked to Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observables via its Gravitational Waves signature,
Finally, I will show how even subtle features in the inflationary potential at very small scales can significantly alter the dynamics of reheating and its potential observable signatures.
