Grand unification, gravitational waves, and the cosmic microwave background anisotropy
Grand unification, gravitational waves, and the cosmic microwave background anisotropy
We re-examine the gravitational wave background resulting from inflation and its effect on the cosmic microwave background radiation. The new COBE measurement of a cosmic background quadrupole anisotropy places an upper limit on the vacuum energy during inflation of $\approx 5 \times 10^{16}$ GeV. A stochastic background of gravitational waves …