Primordial gravitational wave background in string cosmology

Physical Review Letters, 1997

We propose to uncover the signature of a stringy era in the primordial Universe by searching for a prominent peak in the relic graviton spectrum. This feature, which in our specific model terminates an ω 3 increase and initiates an ω −7 decrease, is induced during the so far overlooked bounce of the scale factor between the collapsing deflationary era (or pre-Big Bang) and the expanding inflationary era (or post-Big Bang). We evaluate both analytically and numerically the frequency and the intensity of the peak and we show that they may likely fall in the realm of the new generation of interferometric detectors. The existence of a peak is at variance with ordinarily monotonic (either increasing or decreasing) graviton spectra of canonical cosmologies; its detection would therefore offer strong support to string cosmology.

Physical Review D, 1994

We consider the coupled evolution of density, (scalar) metric and dilaton perturbations in the transition from a "stringy" phase of growing curvature and gravitational coupling to the standard radiation-dominated cosmology. We show that dilaton production, with a spectrum tilted towards large frequencies, emerges as a general property of this scenario. We discuss the frame-independence of the dilaton spectrum and of the inflationary properties of the metric background by using, as model of source, a pressureless gas of weakly interacting strings, which is shown to provide an approximate but consistent solution to the full system of background equations and string equations of motion. We combine various cosmological bounds on a growing dilaton spectrum with the bound on the dilaton mass obtained from tests of the equivalence principle, and we find allowed windows compatible with a universe presently dominated by a relic background of dilatonic dark matter.

Lecture Notes in Physics

In this paper, after discussing the mechanism of graviton production during an early phase of accelerated expansion, we will review the main features of the spectrum of primordial gravitational radiation for the class of string-inspired models called pre-big-bang models. Furthermore, we will also outline the implications on pre-big-bang models of current and future searches of gravitational waves with ground-based detectors.

String theory counterparts to Einstein's gravity, cosmology and inflation are described. A very tight upper bound on the Cosmic Gravitational Radiation Background (CGRB) of standard inflation is shown to be evaded in string cosmology, while an interesting signal in the phenomenologically interesting frequency range is all but excluded. The generic features of such a stringy CGRB are presented.

Astroparticle Physics, 1993

The duality-type symmetries of string cosmology naturally lead us to expect a pre-big-bang phase of accelerated evolution as the dual counterpart of the decelerating expansion era of standard cosmology. Several properties of this scenario are discussed, including the possibility that it avoids the initial singularity and that it provides a large amount of inflation. We also discuss how possible tracks of the pre-big-bang era may be looked for directly in the spectral and "squeezing" properties of relic gravitons and, indirectly, in the distorsion they induce on the cosmic microwave background.

Physical Review D, 2011

In a previous paper we considered the possibility that (within the early-radiation epoch) there has been (also) a short period of a significant presence of cosmic strings. During this radiationplus-strings stage the Universe matter-energy content can be modelled by a two-component fluid, consisting of radiation (dominant) and a cosmic-string fluid (subdominant). It was found that, during this stage, the cosmological gravitational waves (CGWs) -that had been produced in an earlier (inflationary) epoch -with comoving wave-numbers below a critical value (which depends on the physics of the cosmic-string network) were filtered, leading to a distorsion in the expected (scale-invariant) CGW power spectrum. In any case, the cosmological evolution gradually results in the scaling of any long-cosmic-string network and, hence, after a short time-interval, the Universe enters into the late-radiation era. However, along the transition from an early-radiation epoch to the late-radiation era through the radiation-plus-strings stage, the time-dependence of the cosmological scale factor is modified, something that leads to a discontinuous change of the corresponding scalar curvature, which, in turn, triggers the quantum-mechanical creation of gravitons. In this paper we discuss several aspects of such a process, and, in particular, the observational consequences on the expected gravitational-wave (GW) power spectrum. PACS numbers: 04.30.-w 11.25.-w 98.80.Cq

1995

After recalling a few basic concepts from cosmology and string theory, I will outline the main ideas/assumptions underlying (our own group's approach to) string cosmology and show how these lead to the definition of a two-parameter family of ``minimal" models. I will then briefly explain how to compute, in terms of those parameters, the spectrum of scalar, tensor and electromagnetic perturbations, and mention their most relevant physical consequences. More details on the latter part of this talk can be found in Maurizio Gasperini's contribution to these proceedings.

Physical Review D, 1998

Pre-big bang models of inflation based on string cosmology produce a stochastic gravitational wave background whose spectrum grows with decreasing wavelength, and which may be detectable using interferometers such as LIGO. We point out that the gravitational wave spectrum is closely tied to the density perturbation spectrum, and that the condition for producing observable gravitational waves is very similar to that for producing an observable density of primordial black holes. Detection of both would provide strong support to the string cosmology scenario.

1995

A spectrum of relic stochastic gravitational radiation, strongly tilted towards high frequencies, and characterized by two basic parameters is shown to emerge in a class of string theory models. We estimate the required sensitivity for detection of the predicted gravitational radiation and show that a region of our parameter space is within reach for some of the planned gravitational-wave detectors.

String Gravity and Physics at the Planck Energy Scale, 1996

After recalling a few basic concepts from cosmology and string theory, I will discuss the main ideas/assumptions underlying string cosmology and show how these lead to a two-parameter family of "minimal" models. I will then explain how to compute, in terms of those parameters, the spectrum of scalar, tensor and electromagnetic perturbations, point at their (T and S-type) duality symmetries, and mention their most relevant physical consequences.