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Reconstructing primordial curvature perturba- tions via scalar-induced gravitational waves with LISA

7 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.

7 Pith papers citing it
abstract

Many early universe scenarios predict an enhancement of scalar perturbations at scales currently unconstrained by cosmological probes. These perturbations source gravitational waves (GWs) at second order in perturbation theory, leading to a scalar-induced gravitational wave (SIGW) background. The LISA detector, sensitive to mHz GWs, will be able to constrain curvature perturbations in a new window corresponding to scales $k \in [10^{10}, 10^{14}] \,{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, difficult to probe otherwise. In this work, we forecast the capabilities of LISA to constrain the source of SIGWs using different approaches: i) agnostic, where the spectrum of curvature perturbations is binned in frequency space; ii) template-based, modeling the curvature power spectrum based on motivated classes of models; iii) ab initio, starting from first-principles model of inflation featuring an ultra-slow roll phase. We compare the strengths and weaknesses of each approach. We also discuss the impact on the SIGW spectrum of non-standard thermal histories affecting the kernels of SIGW emission and non-Gaussianity in the statistics of the curvature perturbations. Finally, we propose simple tests to assess whether the signal is compatible with the SIGW hypothesis. The pipeline used is built into the SIGWAY code.

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representative citing papers

Quantum production of gravitational waves after inflation

gr-qc · 2025-07-11 · unverdicted · novelty 7.0

Scalar metric perturbations after inflation break conformal invariance and induce quantum production of gravitons, generating a GW spectrum that peaks near GHz frequencies for standard primordial scalar power spectra.

When the Environment Speaks: Quantum Signatures in Non-Attractor Inflation

astro-ph.CO · 2026-07-08 · conditional · novelty 6.0

An open quantum system treatment of curvature perturbations during Ultra-Slow-Roll inflation shows that environmental decoherence erases the interference dip, modifies the growth slope, and induces oscillatory features in the scalar power spectrum and scalar-induced gravitational waves.

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