Using Gravitational Wave Signals to Disentangle Early Matter Dominated Epochs
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866918212044587008 |
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| author | Pearce, Matthew Pearce, Lauren White, Graham Balázs, Csaba |
| author_facet | Pearce, Matthew Pearce, Lauren White, Graham Balázs, Csaba |
| contents | Curvature perturbations induce gravitational waves (GWs) at second order, contributing to the stochastic gravitational wave background. The resulting gravitational wave spectrum is sensitive to the evolutionary history of the universe and can be substantially enhanced by early matter-dominated (eMD) epochs, particularly if they end rapidly. Such epochs can be caused by primordial black holes (PBHs) and non-topological solitons (Q-balls), for example. Prior analysis approximated the end of the eMD epoch as instantaneous or used a Gaussian smoothing. In this work, we present a complete analysis fully incorporating their time-evolving decay rates. We demonstrate that the resulting signal spectra from PBH, thin wall Q-ball, thick wall Q-ball, and delayed Q-ball eMD epochs are distinguishable for monochromatic distributions. We then consider log-normal mass distributions and discuss the distinguishability of the various GW spectra. Importantly we find that the change in the spectrum from a finite mass width is qualitatively different from the change arising from a slower transition to radiation domination. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_03101 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Using Gravitational Wave Signals to Disentangle Early Matter Dominated Epochs Pearce, Matthew Pearce, Lauren White, Graham Balázs, Csaba Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Curvature perturbations induce gravitational waves (GWs) at second order, contributing to the stochastic gravitational wave background. The resulting gravitational wave spectrum is sensitive to the evolutionary history of the universe and can be substantially enhanced by early matter-dominated (eMD) epochs, particularly if they end rapidly. Such epochs can be caused by primordial black holes (PBHs) and non-topological solitons (Q-balls), for example. Prior analysis approximated the end of the eMD epoch as instantaneous or used a Gaussian smoothing. In this work, we present a complete analysis fully incorporating their time-evolving decay rates. We demonstrate that the resulting signal spectra from PBH, thin wall Q-ball, thick wall Q-ball, and delayed Q-ball eMD epochs are distinguishable for monochromatic distributions. We then consider log-normal mass distributions and discuss the distinguishability of the various GW spectra. Importantly we find that the change in the spectrum from a finite mass width is qualitatively different from the change arising from a slower transition to radiation domination. |
| title | Using Gravitational Wave Signals to Disentangle Early Matter Dominated Epochs |
| topic | Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.03101 |