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Use natural units and the unreduced Planck mass $M_P=G^{-1/2}$; it is $\sqrt{8\pi }$ times the reduced Planck mass. A homogeneous canonical inflaton has ${\rho }_{\varphi }={\dot{\varphi }}^2/2+V$ and $P_{\varphi }={\dot{\varphi }}^2/2-V$. Vacuum domination by a scalar field requires ${\dot{\varphi }}_i^2/2\ll V({\varphi }_i)$, with other matter and the curvature term negligible in the Friedmann equation. The equation-of-state parameter is then near $-1$, and the Friedmann acceleration equation gives accelerating expansion.

For sustained slow-roll inflation, Hubble friction must dominate the inflaton acceleration: $|\ddot{\varphi }|\ll 3H|\dot{\varphi }|$, with the scalar potential changing only slightly in one Hubble time. In terms of the potential slow-roll parameter and second potential slow-roll parameter, this requiresFor the quartic scalar potential,Thus $|{\varphi }_i|\gg M_P$ supplies a broad slow-roll range when $\lambda \ll 1$. At an initial density of order the Planck density, potential domination givesso both potential slow-roll parameters are small for small $\lambda$. Small initial kinetic energy is a separate condition; the height of the scalar potential alone does not enforce it. These classical equations describe the post-Planck evolution under the model assumptions, rather than resolving quantum gravity at the initial endpoint.

Take ${\varphi }_i>0$; the negative branch follows by the symmetry $\varphi \mapsto -\varphi$. Dropping kinetic energy from the Friedmann equation and acceleration from the inflaton equation of motion givesWriting $b=M_P\sqrt{\lambda /(6\pi )}$, the quartic-potential slow-roll solution isIndeed, $\dot{\varphi }\simeq -b\varphi$, and integrating $H=\dot{a}/a$ gives $\log (a/a_i)=\pi ({\varphi }_i^2-{\varphi }^2)/M_P^2$. These expressions apply during slow-roll inflation; their formal late-time saturation must not be used beyond the end of that approximation.

The exact end of accelerating expansion is ${ϵ}_H=-\dot{H}/H^2=1$, equivalently ${\dot{\varphi }}^2=V$ for the scalar-dominated flat model. The quartic-inflation endpoint estimate uses the leading potential condition ${ϵ}_V\simeq 1$, givingThe numerical coefficient is an endpoint estimate: the slow-roll approximation breaks down there. Imposing $|{\eta }_V|=1$ estimates when slow roll loses accuracy and gives a different order-one coefficient, not a different exact acceleration condition.

The slow-roll e-fold count isThe quartic-inflation expansion from Planck density combines this initial estimate with the conventional endpoint to giveFor small $\lambda$ the dominant term is enormous; the order-one endpoint uncertainty does not affect that conclusion.

To estimate the reheating temperature, assume prompt, efficient reheating converts the end-of-inflation energy into a thermal radiation bath. With the same endpoint convention, $V_e\simeq \lambda M_P^4/(4{\pi }^2)$, and equating this to the radiation energy density givesThe quartic-inflation prompt-reheating estimate fixes the scaling; the endpoint kinetic energy changes the coefficient by order one. Without an inflaton coupling and its thermalization history, $V$ alone cannot specify the actual reheating temperature.

Finally, during cosmic inflation the comoving Hubble radius decreases:An initially causally connected patch is enlarged enough that the present observable region can lie within it. Its portions may subsequently be far outside one another's Hubble radii while retaining their common earlier thermal history. This solves the horizon problem if the number of e-folds is sufficiently large, conventionally of order sixty for the relevant thermal history; $N\sim 2\pi /\sqrt{\lambda }$ can readily exceed that. The necessary count depends on reheating and later expansion. The causal mechanism and the conversion back to a hot universe are discussed in David Tong's account of inflation.

Let $T_{-}$ be the residual gas temperature immediately before decay. This is the $T_d$ that enters the target abundance formula, not the higher reheating temperature after decay. Before the decay, separately conserved relic number and gas entropy give the conserved cosmological relic abundance $Y=n_{\varphi }/s_{-}$. The cold nonrelativistic relic has negligible kinetic energy, henceAssume its density dominates over that of the residual gas and that curvature and dark energy are negligible in the Friedmann equation. Using the reduced Planck mass $M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2=(8\pi G{)}^{-1}$ gives $3M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2{H}_d^2\simeq {\rho }_{\varphi }(t_d^{-})$. Under the allowed sudden decay of a dominant nonrelativistic relic convention $H_d\simeq \Gamma =t_d^{-1}$, the temperature immediately before decay isThe coefficient inherits the approximation $H_d\simeq 1/t_d$: the result is a sudden-decay estimate, not an exact age relation for a matter-only universe. If $t_d$ were instead the exact cosmic age in an uninterrupted spatially flat matter era, $H_d=2/(3t_d)$ would replace the numerator $3M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2$ by $4M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2/3$.

The assumptions also require thermal decoupling in cosmology and negligible prior decay so that $Y$ remains conserved, a fixed relativistic count $g_{\star }$, and rapid thermalization after the energy release. In the same approximation, the reheating temperature $T_{+}$ follows from $c_2{g}_{\star }{T}_{+}^4\simeq 3M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2/t_d^2$:Its absence of $Y$ at fixed decay rate makes clear why the two temperatures must be distinguished.

The sudden-decay approximation converts a dominant cold relic's rest-mass density into radiation at $H\simeq \Gamma$, neglecting expansion during the conversion. Its pre-decay radiation temperature obeys $T_{-}^3\simeq 3M_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2{\Gamma }^2/(c_1{g}_{\star }Ym)$, while the reheating temperature is set by the post-decay radiation energy density. Constant relativistic counts and prompt thermalization are additional assumptions.