Does inflationary particle production suggest Ω_m <1?

Abstract

We study a class of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetimes with a nonminimally coupled light massive scalar field. Values of the coupling parameter ξ<0 enhance long range power in the vacuum expectation value of the energy-momentum tensor <T_μν> and fundamentally alter the nature of inflationary particle production: the energy density of created particles behaves like an effective cosmological constant, leading generically to Ω_m<1 in clustered matter and providing a possible resolution of the "Ω problem" for low density cosmological models.