Science with the space-based interferometer eLISA. II: gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions

We investigate the potential for the eLISA space-based interferometer to detect the stochastic gravitational wave background produced by strong first-order cosmological phase transitions. We discuss the resulting contributions from bubble collisions, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, and sound waves t...

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Published inJournal of cosmology and astroparticle physics Vol. 2016; no. 4; p. 1
Main Authors Caprini, Chiara, Hindmarsh, Mark, Huber, Stephan, Konstandin, Thomas, Kozaczuk, Jonathan, Nardini, Germano, No, Jose Miguel, Petiteau, Antoine, Schwaller, Pedro, Servant, Géraldine, Weir, David J.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Institute of Physics (IOP) 01.04.2016
Subjects
Astrophysics
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
BUBBLES
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
COSMOLOGY
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
Physics
PROBES
SENSITIVITY
SOUND WAVES
SPACE
STANDARD MODEL
STOCHASTIC PROCESSES
TURBULENCE
UNIVERSE
gravitational radiation: stochastic
new physics
gravitational radiation detector: interferometer
gravitational radiation: background
critical phenomena
sensitivity
turbulence
detector: design
gravitational radiation detector: satellite
background: stochastic
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ISSN1475-7516
1475-7508
1475-7516
DOI10.1088/1475-7516/2016/04/001

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Summary:We investigate the potential for the eLISA space-based interferometer to detect the stochastic gravitational wave background produced by strong first-order cosmological phase transitions. We discuss the resulting contributions from bubble collisions, magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, and sound waves to the stochastic background, and estimate the total corresponding signal predicted in gravitational waves. The projected sensitivity of eLISA to cosmological phase transitions is computed in a model-independent way for various detector designs and configurations. By applying these results to several specific models, we demonstrate that eLISA is able to probe many well-motivated scenarios beyond the Standard Model of particle physics predicting strong first-order cosmological phase transitions in the early Universe.
ISSN:1475-7516
1475-7508
1475-7516
DOI:10.1088/1475-7516/2016/04/001