Observable induced gravitational waves from an early matter phase

Abstract

Assuming that inflation is succeeded by a phase of matter domination, which corresponds to a low temperature of reheating $T_r<10^9\mathrm{GeV}$, we evaluate the spectra of gravitational waves induced in the post-inflationary universe. We work with models of hilltop-inflation with an enhanced primordial scalar spectrum on small scales, which can potentially lead to the formation of primordial black holes. We find that a lower reheat temperature leads to the production of gravitational waves with energy densities within the ranges of both space and earth based gravitational wave detectors.

Comments: 25 pages, 12 figures, v2 includes minor changes