Talk detail

Participant	Anderson, Paul
Institution	Wake Forest University - P. O. Box 7507 - Winston-Salem - North Carolina - USA

Session	CM1	Accepted		Order	Time
Talk	Oral abstract	Title	Validity of the semiclassical approximation during the preheating phase of chaotic inflation
Co-authors
Abstract	The semiclassical approximation has typically been used to describe the initial stage of particle production, often called preheating, which occurs after the inflationary epoch in chaotic models of inflation. During this phase backreaction effects on the inflaton field from the produced particles are significant and one might be concerned about the validity of the semiclassical approximation, even though large backreaction effects are allowed if the inflaton field is coupled to a large number of quantum fields. A criteria will be presented for the validity of the semiclassical approximation in this case. The question of whether this criterion is satisfied during preheating will be addressed.