Grand Unification, Gravitational Waves, and the Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy

Abstract

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 from inflation could produce the entire observed signal (consistent with the observed dipole anisotropy and a flat spectrum) if the vacuum energy during inflation was as small as $1.5 \times 10^{16}$ GeV at the 95\% confidence level. This coincides nicely with the mass scale for Grand Unification inferred from precision measurements of the electroweak and strong coupling constants, for the SUSY Grand Unified Theories. Thus COBE could be providing the first direct evidence, via gravitational waves, for GUTs, and supersymmetry. Further tests of this possibility are examined, based on analyzing the energy density associated with gravitational waves from inflation.