Full-Spectrum Analysis of Gravitational Wave Production from Inflation to Reheating
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arXiv
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| Autores principales: | , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866911167243354112 |
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| author | Xu, Xun-Jie Xu, Yong Yin, Qiqin Zhu, Junyu |
| author_facet | Xu, Xun-Jie Xu, Yong Yin, Qiqin Zhu, Junyu |
| contents | In this work, we systematically study gravitational wave (GW) production during both the inflationary and post-inflationary epochs. While inflationary GWs can be readily derived from tensor perturbations during inflation, post-inflationary GWs arise from a variety of processes during reheating and require detailed treatment for quantitative analysis. We consider four distinct production channels: $(i)$ pure inflaton annihilation, $(ii)$ graviton bremsstrahlung from inflaton decay, $(iii)$ radiation-catalyzed inflaton-graviton conversion, and $(iv)$ scattering among fully thermalized radiation particles. For each channel, we solve the corresponding Boltzmann equation to obtain the GW spectrum and derive a simple yet accurate analytical expression for it. By employing a consistent treatment of all production channels, our analysis yields for the first time the full spectrum of GWs produced during the inflationary and post-inflationary epochs. We find that, while inflationary GWs dominate at low frequencies, post-inflationary processes generally produce high-frequency GWs with considerably high energy densities that may significantly exceed that of inflationary GWs. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_08868 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Full-Spectrum Analysis of Gravitational Wave Production from Inflation to Reheating Xu, Xun-Jie Xu, Yong Yin, Qiqin Zhu, Junyu High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics In this work, we systematically study gravitational wave (GW) production during both the inflationary and post-inflationary epochs. While inflationary GWs can be readily derived from tensor perturbations during inflation, post-inflationary GWs arise from a variety of processes during reheating and require detailed treatment for quantitative analysis. We consider four distinct production channels: $(i)$ pure inflaton annihilation, $(ii)$ graviton bremsstrahlung from inflaton decay, $(iii)$ radiation-catalyzed inflaton-graviton conversion, and $(iv)$ scattering among fully thermalized radiation particles. For each channel, we solve the corresponding Boltzmann equation to obtain the GW spectrum and derive a simple yet accurate analytical expression for it. By employing a consistent treatment of all production channels, our analysis yields for the first time the full spectrum of GWs produced during the inflationary and post-inflationary epochs. We find that, while inflationary GWs dominate at low frequencies, post-inflationary processes generally produce high-frequency GWs with considerably high energy densities that may significantly exceed that of inflationary GWs. |
| title | Full-Spectrum Analysis of Gravitational Wave Production from Inflation to Reheating |
| topic | High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.08868 |