Bethke L.B. Exploring the Early Universe with Gravitational Waves

Springer, 2015. — 149 p.
In this thesis Dr. Laura Bethke lays down some important pieces of groundwork for the future progress of gravitational wave cosmology. The thesis begins with a comprehensive and thorough introduction to the relevant aspects of inflationary cosmology and the physics of gravitational waves, followed by original work on two separate but related topics: Gravitational waves produced during inflation in quantum gravity models, and gravitational waves produced at the end of inflation.