The characteristics of the cosmic microwave background provide circumstantial evidence that the hot radiation-dominated epoch in the early Universe was preceded by a period of inflationary expansion. Here, we show how a measurement of the stochastic gravitational wave background can reveal the cosmic history and the physical conditions during inflation, subsequent pre- and reheating, and the beginning of the hot big bang era. This is exemplified with a particularly well-motivated and predictive minimal extension of the Standard Model, which is known to provide a complete model for particle physics—up to the Planck scale—and for cosmology—back to inflation.

中文翻译：

---

用引力波揭示宇宙历史

宇宙微波背景的特征提供了间接证据，表明早期宇宙中以热辐射为主的时代之前是一段暴胀膨胀时期。在这里，我们展示了随机引力波背景的测量如何揭示宇宙历史和膨胀期间的物理条件，随后的预热和再加热，以及热大爆炸时代的开始。标准模型的一个特别有动力和可预测的最小扩展就是例证，该模型为粒子物理学提供了一个完整的模型——直到普朗克尺度——以及宇宙学——回到暴胀。