Graviton- and inflaton-mediated dark matter production after large field polynomial inflation

Polynomial inflation is a simple cosmological scenario, which fits the cosmic microwave background data well. It provides testable predictions for the tensor-to-scalar ratio and the running of the spectral index. In this work, we investigate the production of Dirac dark matter (DM) within the framework of large-field polynomial inflation. We study all relevant production channels including (i) nonthermal production through inflaton decays and scatterings, and (ii) thermal production from scattering of standard model particles mediated by inflatons and gravitons. In contrast to small-field polynomial inflation, where inflaton decay dominates DM production, we find that graviton-mediated processes can be dominant in the large-field scenario. For DM lighter than the inflaton, we demonstrate that the interplay between graviton- and inflaton-mediated production channels give rise to nontrivial relations between the DM mass and the reheating temperature required to account for the DM relic abundance.