Scalar modes of the relic gravitons

Abstract

In conformally flat background geometries the long-wavelength gravitons can be described in the fluid approximation and they induce scalar fluctuations both during inflation and in the subsequent radiation-dominated epoch. While this effect is minute and suppressed for a de Sitter stage of expansion, the fluctuations of the energy-momentum pseudotensor of the graviton fluid lead to curvature perturbations that increase with time all along the post-inflationary evolution. An explicit calculation of these effects is presented for a standard thermal history and it is shown that the growth of the curvature perturbations caused by the long-wavelength modes is approximately compensated by the slope of the power spectra of the energy density, pressure and anisotropic stress of the relic gravitons.