Abstract
We study the effect of a stochastic background of gravitational waves on the gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. It has been shown that matter density inhomogeneities produce a smoothing of the acoustic peaks in the angular power spectrum of the CMB anisotropies. A gravitational wave background gives rise to an additional smoothing of the spectrum. For the most simple case of a gravitational wave background arising during a period of inflation, the effect is three to four orders of magnitude smaller than its scalar counterpart, and is thus undetectable. It could play a more relevant role in models where a larger background of gravitational waves is produced.
- Received 20 August 1997
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.57.1303
©1998 American Physical Society