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 $T_r<10^9\rm{GeV}$, 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.

25 pages, 12 figures, v2 includes minor changes