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arXiv · 1109.0022

Particle production during inflation and gravitational waves detectable by ground-based interferometers

Jessica L. Cook·Lorenzo Sorbo
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Abstract

Inflation typically predicts a quasi scale-invariant spectrum of gravitational waves. In models of slow-roll inflation, the amplitude of such a background is too small to allow direct detection without a dedicated space-based experiment such as the proposed BBO or DECIGO. In this paper we note that particle production during inflation can generate a feature in the spectrum of primordial gravitational waves. We discuss the possibility that such a feature might be detected by ground-based laser interferometers such as Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo, which will become operational in the next few years. We also discuss the prospects of detection by a space interferometer like LISA. We first study gravitational waves induced by nonperturbative, explosive particle production during inflation: while explosive production of scalar quanta does not generate a significant bump in the primordial tensor spectrum, production of vectors can. We also show that chiral gravitational waves produced by electromagnetic fields amplified by an axion-like inflaton could be detectable by Advanced LIGO.

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Jessica L. Cook, Lorenzo Sorbo. 2011-08-31. Particle production during inflation and gravitational waves detectable by ground-based interferometers. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.85.023534

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