With the help of the tachyonic trapping mechanism one can potentially solve a number of problems affecting quintessential inflation models. In this mechanism we introduce a trapping field with a spontaneous symmetry breaking potential. When the quintessential inflaton passes the critical point, a sudden burst of particle production is able to reheat the Universe and trap the inflaton away from the minimum of its potential. However, self-interactions of the trapping field suppress particle production and reduce the efficiency of this process. We develop a method to compute the magnitude of the suppression and explore the parameter space in which the mechanism can be applied effectively.

• Received 5 January 2022
• Accepted 7 February 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.105.043535