Vacuum polarization effects during the reheating epoch
Phys. Rev. D 113, 025008 – Published 20 January, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wdz1-gytd
Abstract
Quantum effects in the era of reheating of the Universe after inflation are considered. A semiclassical approach to gravity theory is applied within Starobinsky’s inflationary model with backreaction. Some subtleties associated with accounting for quantum effects in the one-loop approximation are clarified. An estimate of the contribution of vacuum polarization in the stress-energy tensor of matter fields to the cosmological particle creation due to the scalaron decay is presented.
