http://arxiv.org/abs/1801.04268
Gravitational wave observations have a great potential for probing cosmology. Here we concentrate on the early universe, and review proposed sources that can lead to cosmological backgrounds of gravitational waves, many of them within the reach of near-future gravitational wave detectors. We start by defining gravitational waves in a cosmological setting and presenting the reasons why early universe sources give rise to stochastic gravitational wave backgrounds. We recap the current observational constraints on stochastic backgrounds and then proceed with the review of gravitational wave generation mechanisms: standard slow-roll inflation and processes that operate within extensions of the standard inflationary scenario; parametric resonance at preheating and related mechanisms; first order phase transitions beyond the standard model of particle physics, related or not to the electroweak symmetry breaking; topological defects and more specifically cosmic strings. The phenomenology of processes that can produce a stochastic gravitational wave background from the early universe is extremely rich, and a future detection would provide important information on the underlying high energy theory describing the universe at high energy scales.
C. Caprini and D. Figueroa
Mon, 15 Jan 18
11/59
Comments: 173 pages, first preliminary version, comments welcome
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