Perturbative inflaton reheating equations
ID: perturbative-inflaton-reheating-equations
A coarse-grained description in which quadratic inflaton oscillations have zero mean pressure and lose energy at constant effective decay rate to a relativistic component. Adding the equations preserves total energy accounting with the appropriate expansion work. Efficient transfer occurs around , but producing particles and achieving thermal equilibrium are different steps. The potential alone does not specify the decay rate or thermalization interactions.
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