Gravitational waves from cosmological phase transitions

by Prof. Ruth Durrer (University of Geneva)

Monday 16 Nov 2009, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Brussels

E/3rd floor-E.349 - Seminar room (E.349) (Marc de Hemptinne (chemin du Cyclotron, 2, Louvain-la-Neuve))

Cosmology is to some extent a search for 'relics' of earlier phases of the Universe. A famous example of this is the cosmic microwave background. Another observational signature which would allow us to probe even earlier epochs of the Universe is a background of gravitational waves. In my talk I discuss the characteristics of the gravitational wave background we might expect from a first order phase transition in the early Universe and I outline the prospects of its observation.