Speaker
Description
Low-scale inflation is increasingly motivated by current observational constraints. In this talk, I will discuss a generic dynamical feature that arises after inflation in a broad class of single-field models. A tachyonic instability can develop immediately after the end of inflation, leading to the rapid growth of field fluctuations and highly nonlinear dynamics. This process results in the formation of Hubble scale shock-like structures, whose subsequent collisions produce particles and a stochastic gravitational-wave background. These signals provide a new and potentially observable prediction of low-scale inflation, offering a novel probe over a wide range of energy scales. I will also show that a simple coupling of the ALP inflaton to the Higgs field may explain the baryon asymmetry through the induced wall dynamics and spontaneous baryogenesis.