How gravitational-wave astronomy can shed light on the dark ages of inflation

Sebastien Renaux-Petel – IAP, Paris

According to the paradigm of cosmological inflation, all the structures of the universe result from quantum fluctuations that were stretched to cosmological scales during a brief phase of accelerated expansion of the universe more than 13 billion years ago. In this seminar, I will describe how gravitational-wave astronomy can revolutionize our understanding of inflation and the challenges ahead to be met. I will notably highlight the role of numerical simulations of inflation, and the inflationary butterfly effect we have uncovered