Related papers: Probing the pre-BBN universe with gravitational wa…
Primordial gravitational waves are a crucial prediction of inflation theory, and their detection through their imprints on the cosmic microwave background is actively being pursued. However, these attempts have not yet been successful. In…
Gravitational waves constitute a powerful probe of the underlying theory of gravity. In extensions of general relativity, additional degrees of freedom, such as scalar fields in the gravitational sector, can modify their propagation through…
One of the most interesting predictions of string-inspired cosmological models is the presence of a stochastic background of relic gravitational waves in the frequency band accessible to Earth-based detectors. Here we consider a ``minimal''…
The advent of gravitational-wave (GW) astronomy has presented us with a completely new means for observing the Universe, allowing us to probe its structure and evolution like never before. In this thesis, we explore three distinct but…
The observation of primordial gravitational waves could provide a new and unique window on the earliest moments in the history of the universe, and on possible new physics at energies many orders of magnitude beyond those accessible at…
Gravitational waves (GW) can constitute a unique probe of the primordial universe. In many cases, the characteristic frequency of the emitted GW is directly related to the energy scale at which the GW source is operating in the early…
If string theory is correct, then our observable Universe may be a 3-dimensional "brane" embedded in a higher-dimensional spacetime. This theoretical scenario should be tested via the state-of-the-art in gravitational experiments -- the…
Gravitational waves (GW) produced in the early Universe contribute to the number of relativistic degrees of freedom, $N_{\rm eff}$, during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). By using the constraints on $N_{\rm eff}$, we present a new bound on…
We discuss data analysis techniques that can be used in the search for gravitational wave bursts from cosmic strings. When data from multiple interferometers are available, we describe consistency checks that can be used to greatly reduce…
In type I seesaw models, the right-handed neutrinos are typically super-heavy, consistent with the generation of baryon asymmetry via standard leptogenesis. Primordial gravitational waves of cosmological origin provides a new window to…
Detection of a gravitational-wave signal of non-astrophysical origin would be a landmark discovery, potentially providing a significant clue to some of our most basic, big-picture scientific questions about the Universe. In this white…
This paper is the third in a series of theorems which state how cosmological observations can provide evidence for an early phase of acceleration in the universe. Previous theorems demonstrated that the observed power spectrum for scalar…
A metastable cosmic-string network is a generic consequence of many grand unified theories (GUTs) when combined with cosmic inflation. Metastable cosmic strings are not topologically stable, but decay on cosmic time scales due to pair…
Gravitational waves (GWs) originating from cosmological sources offer direct insights into the physics of the primordial Universe, the fundamental nature of gravity, and the cosmic expansion of the Universe. In this review paper, we present…
The recent claim by BICEP2 of evidence for primordial gravitational waves from inflation has focused interest on the potential for early-Universe cosmology using observations of gravitational waves. In addition to cosmic microwave…
For millennia, humanity has relied exclusively on light$\unicode{x2014}$initially visible light and, later, broader and broader portions of the electromagnetic spectrum$\unicode{x2014}$to observe the universe. In the past decade, a…
We calculate the density and gravitational wave spectrums generated in a version of string cosmology termed pre-big bang scenario. The large scale structures are originated from quantum fluctuations of the metric and dilaton field during a…
We study the primordial spectra and the gravitational-wave background (GWB) of three models of semi-classical, quantum or string gravity where the big bang is replaced by a bounce and the primordial tensor spectrum is blue: ekpyrotic…
The detection of gravitational waves (GW) by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations offers a whole new range of possible tests and opens up a new window which may shed light on the nature of dark energy and dark matter. In the present work we…
Upcoming searches for the stochastic background of inflationary gravitational waves (GWs) offer the exciting possibility to probe the evolution of our Universe prior to Big Bang nucleosynthesis. In this spirit, we explore the sensitivity of…