VEV (in GeV) T$_{R}$ (Γ$_{d}$ = 10 GeV < m$_{0}$ ) T$_{R}$ (Γ$_{d}$ = 10 4 GeV > m$_{0}$ ) ϕ$_{0}$ ∼ M$_{P}$ 3 × 10 3 7 × 10 4 ϕ$_{0}$ = 10 − $^{2}$M$_{P}$ 3 × 10 5 7 × 10 6 ϕ$_{0}$ = 10 − $^{4}$M$_{P}$ 3 × 10 7 7 × 10 8 ϕ$_{0}$ ≤ 10 − $^{6}$M$_{P}$ 3 × 10 9 7 × 10 10 Table 1: The reheat temperature of the universe for the inflaton mass, m$_{φ}$ = 10 13 GeV, and two values of the inflaton decay rate, Γ$_{d}$ = 10 , 10 4 GeV (if the inflaton decays gravitationally, we have Γ$_{d}$ ∼ 10 GeV). The flat direction mass is m$_{0}$ ∼ 1 TeV. The rows show the values of T$_{R}$ for flat direction VEVs. Note that when the VEV of a flat direction is < 10 12 GeV, the flat direction can no longer delay the thermalization, and the reheat temperature, T$_{R}$ ≃ (Γ$_{d}$ M$_{P}$ ) 1 / $^{2}$, remains a good approximation $^{99}$. E. Quasi-adiabatic thermal evolution of the universe Before complete thermalization is reached the universe remains out of equilibrium $^{100}$.The deviation from full equilibrium can be quantified by the parameter $^{′′}$A′′ [122, 749], where A ≡ 3 ρ T 4 ∼ 10 4 ( Γ$_{d}$ M$_{P}$ m 2 φ ) 2 . (435) Here we define T ≈ 〈 E 〉 / 3, in accordance with full equilibrium. Note that in full equilibrium, see Eq. (375), we have A ≈ $^{g}$∗ (= 228 . 75 in the MSSM). One can also associate parameter A i ≡ 3 ρ$_{i}$/T 4 to the i − th degree of freedom with the energy density ρ$_{i}$ (all particles have the same energy E , and hence T , as they are produced in one-particle decay of the inflaton). Note that A = ∑ i A $_{i}$, and in full equilibrium we have A i ≃ 1. Note that A depends on the total decay rate of the inflaton Γ$_{d}$ and its mass m$_{φ}$ through Eq. (435). While, A i are determined by the branching ratio for the inflaton 99 Majority of MSSM flat directions can take a VEV ≥ 10 14 GeV, which are lifted by more than dimensional 6 operators, for instance udd , LLe , etc. 100 Right after the inflaton decay has completed the energy density of the universe is given by; ρ ≈ 3 (Γ$_{d}$ M$_{P}$ ) $^{2}$, and the average energy of particles is 〈 E 〉 ≃ m$_{φ}$ . For example, in a two-body decay of the inflaton, we have exactly E = m$_{φ}$/ 2. 203