Work

Stochastic gravitational waves from modulated reheating

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: We investigate scalar-induced stochastic gravitational waves from adiabatic curvature perturbations sourced by a spectator field via the modulated reheating mechanism. We consider a spectator scalar with Higgs-like couplings and inflaton decay via shift symmetric dimension-five operators. The spectator is assumed to be in the Sitter vacuum and it sources blue-tilted, strongly non-Gaussian curvature perturbations which can dominate the spectrum on small scales k ≫ Mpc -1 . We find that the setup could generate a gravitational wave signal testable by surveys like BBO and DECIGO but only for large coupling values not expected in low-energy particle physics setups that can be perturbatively extrapolated up to the inflationary scale.

Source: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics

DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2026/04/046

Authors: Michele Benaco, Dimitrios Karamitros, Sami Nurmi, Kimmo Tuominen

Institutions: University of Helsinki, Helsinki Institute of Physics, University of Jyväskylä

Language: English

Topic: Cosmology and Gravitation Theories

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,290

OpenAlex ID: W4414980898

FWCI:

Cites:

Cited by:

Related to: