Spectator Composes a Gravitational Canon: Spectator-field-triggered Phase Transition During Inflation and its Anisotropic Gravitational Wave Signals

arXiv:2601.04307 · hep-ph, astro-ph.CO, gr-qc, hep-th · Submitted 2026-01-07 · Read on arXiv

hep-ph, astro-ph.CO, gr-qc, hep-th

Submitted: 2026-01-07

Updated: 2026-09-15

Comments: v2: matched journal version, 10+1 pages, 3 figures, v1: 5+5 pages, 2+1 figures

Journal ref: Phys. Rev. D 114 (2026), 055008

DOI: 10.1103/z1ws-kb9z

License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

Terminology

• Anisotropy — 19× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
• Non-Gaussianity — 16× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Topological Defects — 12× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Domain Walls — 11× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Phase Transitions — 11× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Symmetry Breaking — 8× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
• Benchmark — 6× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Standard Model — 5× in this paper
• Primordial non-Gaussianity — 4× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• Consistency — 3× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
• Abundance — 1× in this paper · explained in 1 episode
• Big Bang Observer — 1× in this paper
• Bispectrum — 1× in this paper · explained in 3 episodes
• Einstein Telescope — 1× in this paper
• Gravitational Wave Emission — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes
• World Premier International Research Center Initiative — 1× in this paper
• pulsar timing arrays — 1× in this paper · explained in 2 episodes

Sources

• Thermal Inflation and the Moduli Problem
• The Supercooled Universe
• The meso-inflationary QCD axion
• More axions from diluted domain walls
• Gravitational wave background from hybrid topological defects
• Gravitational radiation from monopoles connected by strings
• Cosmic Strings, Inflation, and Gravity Waves
• Monopoles, Strings and Gravitational Waves in Non-minimal Inflation
• Crescendo Beyond the Horizon: More Gravitational Waves from Domain Walls Bounded by Inflated Cosmic Strings
• Induced gravitational waves, metastable cosmic strings and primordial black holes in GUTs
• Primordial monopoles, proton decay, gravity waves and GUT inflation
• A unique gravitational wave signal from phase transition during inflation
• Primordial Monopoles and Strings, Inflation, and Gravity Waves
• Gravitational Waves from an Inflation Triggered First-Order Phase Transition
• Gravitational Waves Produced by Domain Walls During Inflation
• Phase transition during inflation and the gravitational wave signal at pulsar timing arrays
• Large non-Gaussianities corresponding to first-order phase transitions during inflation
• Curvature perturbations from vacuum transition during inflation
• Anisotropies and non-Gaussianity of the Cosmological Gravitational Wave Background
• Characterizing the Cosmological Gravitational Wave Background Anisotropies and non-Gaussianity

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