CBR Temperature Fluctuations Induced by Gravitational Waves in a Spatially-Closed Inflationary Universe

Abstract

Primordial gravitational waves are created during the de Sitter phase of an exponentially-expanding (inflationary) universe, due to quantum zero-point vacuum fluctuations. These waves produce fluctuations in the temperature of the Cosmic Background Radiation (CBR). We calculate the multipole moments of the correlation function for these temperature fluctuations in a spatially-closed Friedman-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmological model. The results are compared to the corresponding multipoles in the spatially-flat case. The differences are small unless the density parameter today, $\hat{I}{\text{c◯}}_0$, is greater than 2. (Submitted to Physical Review D).

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