Effects of scalar non-Gaussianity on induced scalar-tensor gravitational waves (2410.17819v1)

Abstract: If primordial scalar or tensor perturbations are enhanced on short scales, it may lead to the production of observable gravitational wave signals. These waves may be sourced by scalar-scalar, scalar-tensor or tensor-tensor interactions. Typically, models of inflation capable of producing large peaks in the scalar primordial power spectrum also generate sizeable scalar non-Gaussianity. Previous studies have investigated the possible effects of this on the scalar-scalar induced gravitational wave spectrum by assuming a local expansion in terms of the parameters $F_{\textrm{NL}}$, $G_{\textrm{NL}}$ and so on. We extend this approach to the case of scalar-tensor induced gravitational waves, introducing a local expansion for scalar non-Gaussianity into the scalar-tensor sector equations. We compute the contribution to the gravitational wave spectrum from the resulting new term and analyse its distinguishing features.