Imprints of Reheating Dynamics on Gravitational Waves from Phase Transitions

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Barman, Basabendu, Kierkla, Maciej, Lewicki, Marek, Merchand, Marco
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Barman, Basabendu
Kierkla, Maciej
Lewicki, Marek
Merchand, Marco
author_facet Barman, Basabendu
Kierkla, Maciej
Lewicki, Marek
Merchand, Marco
contents We investigate how perturbative reheating after inflation modifies the primordial gravitational wave (GW) spectrum generated by cosmological phase transitions. Within a specific inflationary setup, we show that the thermodynamic quantities that control the phase transition depend on the effective equation of state of the cosmological background, which is itself set by the form of the inflaton potential during reheating. Assuming reheating proceeds via perturbative dissipation of the inflaton condensate into boson or fermion pairs, we find that phase transitions taking place in this epoch generally produce GW signals that are systematically suppressed compared with the standard radiation-dominated scenario. We also identify characteristic spectral features that may arise in this case, which could serve as distinctive signatures of the modified expansion history during reheating.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_11184
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Imprints of Reheating Dynamics on Gravitational Waves from Phase Transitions
Barman, Basabendu
Kierkla, Maciej
Lewicki, Marek
Merchand, Marco
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
We investigate how perturbative reheating after inflation modifies the primordial gravitational wave (GW) spectrum generated by cosmological phase transitions. Within a specific inflationary setup, we show that the thermodynamic quantities that control the phase transition depend on the effective equation of state of the cosmological background, which is itself set by the form of the inflaton potential during reheating. Assuming reheating proceeds via perturbative dissipation of the inflaton condensate into boson or fermion pairs, we find that phase transitions taking place in this epoch generally produce GW signals that are systematically suppressed compared with the standard radiation-dominated scenario. We also identify characteristic spectral features that may arise in this case, which could serve as distinctive signatures of the modified expansion history during reheating.
title Imprints of Reheating Dynamics on Gravitational Waves from Phase Transitions
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.11184