Inflationary gravitational-wave background and measurements of the scalar spectral index

Journal Article · Wed Oct 15 04:00:00 EDT 2008 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVD.78.083525· OSTI ID:21254409

Smith, Tristan L; Kamionkowski, Marc ^[1]; Cooray, Asantha ^[2]

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1. California Institute of Technology, Mail Code 130-33, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697 (United States)

Inflation predicts a stochastic background of gravitational waves over a broad range of frequencies, from those accessible with cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements, to those accessible directly with gravitational-wave detectors, like NASA's Big-Bang Observer (BBO), currently under study. In a previous paper [Phys. Rev. D 73, 023504 (2006)] we connected CMB constraints to the amplitude and tensor spectral tilt of the inflationary gravitational-wave background (IGWB) at BBO frequencies for four classes of models of inflation by directly solving the inflationary equations of motion. Here we extend that analysis by including results obtained in the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe third-year data release as well as by considering two additional classes of inflationary models. As often noted in the literature, the recent indication that the primordial density power spectrum has a red spectral index implies (with some caveats) that the amplitude of the IGWB may be large enough to be observable in the CMB polarization. Here we also explore the implications for the direct detection of the IGWB.

• OSTI ID: 21254409
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 78; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
AMPLITUDES
ANISOTROPY
DETECTION
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
GRAVITATIONAL WAVE DETECTORS
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
NASA
POLARIZATION
POWER DENSITY
RELICT RADIATION
SPECTRA
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES