Non-Gaussianity and the induced gravitational wave background

Scalar metric fluctuations generically source a spectrum of gravitational waves at second order in perturbation theory, poising gravitational wave experiments as potentially powerful probes of the small-scale curvature power spectrum. We perform a detailed study of the imprint of primordial non-Gaussianity on these induced gravitational waves, emphasizing the role of both the disconnected and connected components of the primoridal trispectrum. Specializing to local-type non-Gaussianity, we numerically compute all contributions and present results for a variety of enhanced primordial curvature power spectra. JCAP10(2021)080

Automated summary

We studied the impact of scalar metric fluctuations on the generation of gravitational waves, emphasizing the role of primordial non-Gaussianity, especially the disconnected and connected components of the primordial trispectrum. By calculating all contributions, we obtained results for various enhanced primordial curvature power spectra.