Speaker
Description
Gravitational waves (GWs) present a promising avenue to probe the physics of inflationary reheating, which may play a crucial role in the thermal history of the early Universe. In this talk, I will discuss the unavoidable sources of GWs from graviton production during reheating. The processes under consideration include: $(i)$ $1 \to 3$ graviton Bremsstrahlung, $(ii)$ $2 \to 2$ scattering of the inflaton and its decay products, $(iii)$ pure inflaton $2 \to 2$ scattering, and $(iv)$ one-loop induced inflaton decay. Through a comprehensive comparison of these four sources of GWs, we will identify the conditions under which the dominant source emerges. Finally, I will comment on how future high-frequency detectors could potentially reveal the dynamics of reheating.
