Spikes in the Relic Graviton Background from Quintessential Inflation

TL;DR

This paper predicts a sharp spike at 170 GHz in the gravitational wave spectrum from quintessential inflation, with potential implications for detection strategies of relic gravitons.

Contribution

It introduces a distinctive high-frequency spike in gravitational wave spectra specific to quintessential inflation models, contrasting with ordinary inflation.

Findings

Spike at 170 GHz with energy density of ~10^{-6}

Spectral differences between quintessential and ordinary inflation

Discussion on potential detection methods

Abstract

The energy spectra of gravitational waves (GW) produced in quintessential inflationary models increase in frequency and exhibit a sharp spike around 170 GHz where the associated fraction of critical energy density today stored in relic gravitons is of the order of $10^{-6}$. We contrast our findings with the spectra of ordinary inflationary models and we comment about possible detetction strategies of the spike.