Scale-invariant enhancement of gravitational waves during inflation postprint

Abstract: The inflationary 1-loop tensor power spectrum from an excited spectator scalar field is calculated. Recent studies on primordial black holes suggest that the inflationary curvature perturbation may be huge on small scales. An enhanced curvature perturbation may arise from a drastic enhancement of spectator scalar field fluctuations. In this letter, using the in-in formalism, we calculate 1-loop quantum corrections to primordial gravitational waves by such an excited spectator field with a sharp peak in momentum space. We find scale-invariant loop corrections in this full quantum setup, in contrast to the sharply peaked corrections in the previously calculated scalar-induced tensor modes. Especially, on super Hubble scales, the primordial gravitational waves are also amplified, which can be understood as a Bogolyubov transformation of the vacuum due to the excited scalar field. This mechanism allows us to probe the scalar field properties on extremely short-distance scales with the current and future cosmic microwave background and gravitational wave experiments, opening a novel window for inflationary cosmology.