Gravitational Waves Produced by Domain Walls During Inflation

Abstract

We study the properties of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) produced by domain walls (DWs) during inflation without forming a network. We numerically simulate the DW production caused by a second-order phase transition and calculate the SGWB spectrum using a $1000\times1000\times1000$ lattice. We show that the SGWB can be observed directly by future terrestrial and spatial gravitational wave detectors and through the B-mode spectrum in CMB. This signal can also explain the common noise process observed by pulsar timing array experiments. With numerical simulations, we derive an empirical formula for the strength and qualitative features of the SGWB spectrum. The details of the SGWB spectrum also contain information about the later evolution of the universe.