Gravitational production of (very) dark sectors
Date: 24 MARCH 2026 from 11:00 to 12:00
Event location: IR-2A
Title: Gravitational production of (very) dark sectors
Abstract: Gravitational particle production (GPP), i.e. the production of particles out of the expansion of the universe, is an elegant and inevitable source of particles in the early universe. In particular, it is sufficient to produce the entirety of the present abundance of the dark matter. In order to compute this abundance, a number of assumptions on the early universe are required. In this talk I will review the phenomenon of the GPP, stressing what are the required hypotheses for quantitative computations, and then I will show what happens when we break one of them. In particular, I will focus on changing the initial conditions for the evolution of these particles, which can significantly impact the final predicted abundance.