Leptogenesis from Gravity Waves in Models of Inflation

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel inflationary mechanism where gravitational waves with CP-odd properties generate lepton asymmetry via gravitational anomalies, potentially explaining the universe's matter-antimatter imbalance.

Contribution

It introduces a new leptogenesis mechanism utilizing gravitational waves with CP-odd polarization during inflation, linking gravitational physics with matter asymmetry.

Findings

Mechanism can produce realistic matter asymmetry under specific conditions

Leptogenesis occurs through gravitational anomaly with elliptically polarized gravitational waves

Connects inflationary gravitational waves to baryogenesis processes

Abstract

We present a new mechanism for creating the observed cosmic matter-antimatter asymmetry which satisfies all three Sakharov conditions from one common thread, gravitational waves. We generate lepton number through the gravitational anomaly in the lepton number current. The source term comes from elliptically polarizated gravity waves that are produced during inflation if the inflaton field contains a CP-odd component. In simple inflationary scenarios, the generated matter asymmetry is very small. We describe some special conditions in which our mechanism can give a matter asymmetry of realistic size.