Non-Gaussian Stochastic Gravitational Waves from Phase Transitions

Speaker: 
Yuhsin Tsai
Institution: 
Notre Dame
Date: 
Wednesday, April 14, 2021
Time: 
11:00 am
Location: 
Zoom Seminar
Abstract:
the cosmic microwave background (CMB). For adiabatic perturbations, the fluctuations in GWB follow those in the CMB, but if primordial fluctuations carry an isocurvature component, this needs no longer be true. In this talk, I will show that in non-minimal inflationary and reheating settings, primordial isocurvature can survive in GWB and exhibit significant non-Gaussianity (NG) in contrast to the CMB, while obeying current observational bounds. While probing such NG GWB is at best a marginal possibility at LISA, there is much greater scope at future proposed detectors such as DECIGO and BBO. It is even possible that the first observations of inflationary NG could be made with gravitational wave detectors as opposed to the CMB or Large-Scale Structure surveys.
Host: 
Mauri Valli