Gravitino production in the warm inflationary scenario - art. no. 023513

We estimate the production of gravitinos during and after the end of a peri od of warm inflation, a model in which radiation is produced continuously a s the field rolls down the potential producing dissipation. We find that gr avitino production is efficient for models in the strong dissipation regime , with the result that standard nucleosynthesis is disrupted unless the mag nitude of the inflaton potential is very small. Combining this with the con straint from the thermal production of adiabatic density perturbations, we find the dissipation rate must be extraordinarily strong, or that the poten tial is very flat.