  We present a novel perspective on the role of inflation in the production of
Dark Matter (DM). Specifically, we explore the DM production during Warm
Inflation via ultraviolet Freeze-In (WIFI). We demonstrate that in a Warm
Inflation (WI) setting the persistent thermal bath, sustained by the
dissipative interactions with the inflaton field, can source a sizable DM
abundance via the non-renormalizable interactions that connect the DM with the
bath. Compared to the (conventional) radiation-dominated (RD) UV freeze-in
scenario for the same reheat temperature (after inflation), the resulting DM
yield in WIFI is always enhanced, showing a strongly positive dependence on the
mass dimension of the non-renormalizable operator. Of particular interest, for
a sufficiently large mass dimension of the operator, the entirety of the DM
abundance of the Universe can be created during the inflationary phase. For the
specific models we study, we find an enhancement in DM yield of up to 30 orders
of magnitude relative to RD UV freeze-in for the same reheat temperature. Our
findings also suggest a broader applicability for producing other cosmological
relics, which may have a substantial impact on the evolution of the early
Universe.
