Tensor perturbations in inflationary models as a probe of cosmology

Journal Article · Mon Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.48.4613· OSTI ID:5948989

Turner, M S; White, M; Lidsey, J E ^[1]

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1. Departments of Physics and of Astronomy Astrophysics, Enrico Fermi Institute, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637-1433 (United States) NASA/Fermilab Astrophysics Center, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510-0500 (United States) Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 (United States)

In principle, the tensor metric (gravity-wave) perturbations that arise in inflationary models can, beyond probing the underlying inflationary model, provide information about the Universe: ionization history, presence of a cosmological constant, and epoch of matter-radiation equality. Because tensor perturbations give rise to the anisotropy of the cosmic background radiation (CBR) solely through the Sachs-Wolfe effect we are able to calculate analytically their contribution to the variance of the multipole moments of the CBR temperature anisotropy. In so doing, we carefully take account of the effect of tensor perturbations that entered the Hubble radius during both the matter-dominated and radiation-dominated epochs by means of a transfer function. (Previously, only those modes that entered during the matter era were properly taken into account.) The striking feature in the spectrum of multipole amplitudes is a dramatic falloff for [ital l][approx gt] [radical]1+[ital z][sub LSS] , where [ital z][sub LSS] is the redshift of the last-scattering surface, which depends upon the ionization history of the Universe. Finally, using our transfer function we provide a more precise formula for the energy density in stochastic gravitational waves from inflation, and, using the Cosmic Background Explorer Differential Microwave Radiometer (COBE DMR) quadrupole normalization, we express this energy density in terms of the tilt'' of the spectrum of tensor perturbations alone and show that it is unlikely that the stochastic background of gravity waves can be detected directly in the foreseeable future.

• OSTI ID: 5948989
• Journal Information: Physical Review, D (Particles Fields); (United States), Vol. 48:10; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COSMOLOGY
INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE
TENSORS
PERTURBATION THEORY
ANISOTROPY
BACKGROUND RADIATION
COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT
ENERGY DENSITY
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
SPECTRA
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RADIATIONS
661310* - Relativity & Gravitation- (1992-)