English

Gravitational waves from oscillons in a generalized exponential plateau potential

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2026-07-31 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

We study oscillon formation and gravitational wave production in a generalized exponential plateau inflationary potential. Using Floquet analysis, we identify parametric instability bands consistent with oscillon formation, and solve numerically for the oscillon profile, finding quasi-breather solutions with lifetimes τoscmeff103\tau_{\rm osc} \cdot m_{\rm eff} \sim 10^3 --- 6×1046\times10^4. Applying the poltergeist mechanism, we compute the induced gravitational wave spectrum and find a peak at fpeak2.5×1010f_{\rm peak} \approx 2.5\times10^{10}~Hz with amplitude ΩGW,0h2109\Omega_{\rm GW,0}\,h^2 \sim 10^{-9}--10810^{-8} for the benchmark parameter βpot=5×106\beta_{\rm pot} = 5\times10^{-6}. This is far below the region forbidden by big bang nucleosynthesis. For βpot=5×105\beta_{\rm pot} = 5\times10^{-5} the signal exceeds the big bang nucleosynthesis bound for all considered oscillon energy fractions, constraining the parameter space of the model. The signal falls in the GHz regime, potentially accessible to future resonant cavity experiments.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.29013,
  title  = {Gravitational waves from oscillons in a generalized exponential plateau potential},
  author = {Peter Lott and Tuan Q. Do},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.29013},
  year   = {2026}
}