English

The stochastic gravitational wave background from QCD phase transition in the framework of higher-order GUP

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2025-12-05 v2

Abstract

This work studies the impact of a new higher-order generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) on the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) associated with a QCD-scale first-order phase transition. Assuming a strongly first-order transition at the QCD-scale as a phenomenological benchmark, the analysis shows that the sign and magnitude of the dimensionless deformation parameter β0\beta_0 play a crucial role. For negative β0\beta_0, the thermodynamic quantities of the radiation fluid develop a maximal temperature beyond which entropy and pressure vanish, and the SGWB spectrum exhibits divergent behavior at high temperatures, so this branch is discarded as phenomenologically inconsistent. For positive β0\beta_0, the higher-order GUP shifts the SGWB peak frequency towards lower values and slightly enhances the peak energy density, with the size of the effect controlled by β0\beta_0. For natural values β0=O(1)\beta_0=\mathcal{O}\left( 1 \right) the corrections at QCD temperatures are strongly suppressed, whereas larger benchmark values still compatible with existing experimental and cosmological bounds can induce appreciable shifts in the SGWB spectrum. A future detection of a QCD-scale first-order SGWB would therefore allow the framework developed here to be used to translate the measured signal into constraints on the higher-order GUP parameter, providing an indirect probe of quantum gravity effects.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.07767,
  title  = {The stochastic gravitational wave background from QCD phase transition in the framework of higher-order GUP},
  author = {Zhong-Wen Feng and Long-Xiang Li and Shi-Yu Li and Qing-Quan Jiang and Xia Zhou},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.07767},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

23 pages, 6 figures