Chiral gravitational waves from chiral fermions

Abstract

We report on a new mechanism that leads to the generation of primordial chiral gravitational waves, and hence, the violation of the parity symmetry in the Universe. We show that nonperturbative production of fermions with a definite helicity is accompanied by the generation of chiral gravitational waves. This is a generic and model-independent phenomenon that can occur during inflation, reheating and radiation eras, and can leave imprints in the cosmic microwave background polarization and may be observed in future ground- and space-based interferometers. We also discuss a specific model where chiral gravitational waves are generated via the production of light chiral fermions during pseudoscalar inflation.