Stochastic Backgrounds of Gravitational Waves from Cosmological Sources: Techniques and Applications to Preheating

TL;DR

This paper develops analytical and computational methods to predict the stochastic gravitational wave background from early universe processes, specifically applying it to preheating scenarios post-inflation, with potential detectability by future detectors.

Contribution

It introduces a new framework for calculating classical gravitational wave backgrounds from cosmological sources, focusing on inhomogeneities during preheating.

Findings

Framework successfully models gravitational wave spectra from preheating.

Predicted signals could be detectable by next-generation gravitational wave observatories.

Provides insights into early universe dynamics through gravitational wave analysis.

Abstract

Several mechanisms exist for generating a stochastic background of gravitational waves in the period following inflation. These mechanisms are generally classical in nature, with the gravitational waves being produced from inhomogeneities in the fields that populate the early universe and not quantum fluctuations. The resulting stochastic background could be accessible to next generation gravitational wave detectors. We develop a framework for computing such a background analytically and computationally. As an application of our framework, we consider the stochastic background of gravitational waves generated in a simple model of preheating.