Chiral primordial gravitational waves from a Lifshitz point

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Jun 12;102(23):231301. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.231301. Epub 2009 Jun 11.

Abstract

We study primordial gravitational waves produced during inflation in quantum gravity at a Lifshitz point proposed by Horava. Assuming power-counting renormalizability, foliation-preserving diffeomorphism invariance, and the condition of detailed balance, we show that primordial gravitational waves are circularly polarized due to parity violation. The chirality of primordial gravitational waves is a quite robust prediction of quantum gravity at a Lifshitz point which can be tested through observations of cosmic microwave background radiation and stochastic gravitational waves.