{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/113170"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/113170","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Gravitational waves and gauge fields in the early Universe","abstract":"Though precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background establish inflation as the leading paradigm of the early Universe, the exact microphysics that realize inflation are poorly constrained. Moreover, inflation generically leaves the Universe cold and empty. The fundamental physics underlying reheating, the dynamics that transition the post-inflationary Universe to a hot Big Bang, are entirely unknown. While uncovering the fundamental physics of the early Universe poses a tremendous theoretical and observational challenge, it also presents an opportunity to study energies far exceeding those that could ever be reproduced experimentally. This thesis explores the role that gravitational wave observations could play in constraining models of the early Universe. We first study the dynamics and signatures of reheating models that lead to the resonant production of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge bosons. We subsequently demonstrate that gravitational wave emission constrains a similar model invoked to resolve the discrepancy in measurements of the present-day expansion rate. Finally, we study gravitational waves induced by scalar metric fluctuations at second order in perturbation theory, performing a detailed study of the imprint of primordial non-Gaussianity on this background.","abstract_html":"Though precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background establish inflation as the leading paradigm of the early Universe, the exact microphysics that realize inflation are poorly constrained. Moreover, inflation generically leaves the Universe cold and empty. The fundamental physics underlying reheating, the dynamics that transition the post-inflationary Universe to a hot Big Bang, are entirely unknown. While uncovering the fundamental physics of the early Universe poses a tremendous theoretical and observational challenge, it also presents an opportunity to study energies far exceeding those that could ever be reproduced experimentally. This thesis explores the role that gravitational wave observations could play in constraining models of the early Universe. We first study the dynamics and signatures of reheating models that lead to the resonant production of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge bosons. We subsequently demonstrate that gravitational wave emission constrains a similar model invoked to resolve the discrepancy in measurements of the present-day expansion rate. Finally, we study gravitational waves induced by scalar metric fluctuations at second order in perturbation theory, performing a detailed study of the imprint of primordial non-Gaussianity on this background.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Weiner, Zachary J"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Physics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Adshead, Peter","Holder, Gilbert","Shelton, Jessie","Filippini, Jeffrey","Gammie, Charles"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-01-12T22:35:09Z","date_published":"2022-01-12T22:35:09Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:53Z","subjects":["inflation","gravitational waves","cosmology","early Universe","gauge fields","reheating","particle physics","numerical simulations"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2021 Zachary J. 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This thesis explores the role that gravitational wave observations could play in constraining models of the early Universe. We first study the dynamics and signatures of reheating models that lead to the resonant production of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge bosons. We subsequently demonstrate that gravitational wave emission constrains a similar model invoked to resolve the discrepancy in measurements of the present-day expansion rate. Finally, we study gravitational waves induced by scalar metric fluctuations at second order in perturbation theory, performing a detailed study of the imprint of primordial non-Gaussianity on this background.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-08-01","The student, Zach Weiner, accepted the attached license on 2021-07-09 at 15:04.","The student, Zach Weiner, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-07-09 at 15:41.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-07-11 at 18:55.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16836 on 2022-01-12 at 12:54:24","Made available in DSpace on 2022-01-12T22:35:09Z (GMT). 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Moreover, inflation generically leaves the Universe cold and empty. The fundamental physics underlying reheating, the dynamics that transition the post-inflationary Universe to a hot Big Bang, are entirely unknown. While uncovering the fundamental physics of the early Universe poses a tremendous theoretical and observational challenge, it also presents an opportunity to study energies far exceeding those that could ever be reproduced experimentally. This thesis explores the role that gravitational wave observations could play in constraining models of the early Universe. We first study the dynamics and signatures of reheating models that lead to the resonant production of Abelian and non-Abelian gauge bosons. We subsequently demonstrate that gravitational wave emission constrains a similar model invoked to resolve the discrepancy in measurements of the present-day expansion rate. Finally, we study gravitational waves induced by scalar metric fluctuations at second order in perturbation theory, performing a detailed study of the imprint of primordial non-Gaussianity on this background.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2023-08-01","The student, Zach Weiner, accepted the attached license on 2021-07-09 at 15:04.","The student, Zach Weiner, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2021-07-09 at 15:41.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2021-07-11 at 18:55.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16836 on 2022-01-12 at 12:54:24","Made available in DSpace on 2022-01-12T22:35:09Z (GMT). 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