Can the poltergeist mechanism produce observable GWs?

Abstract: The enhancement of induced gravitational waves (GWs) occurs due to a sudden transition from an early matter-dominated era to the radiation-dominated era. We analyze the impact of the transition rate on the scalar potential. We find that the finite transition duration suppresses the oscillation amplitude of the scalar potential, consequently suppressing the amplitude of the GW energy spectrum. By numerically solving the background and perturbation equations, we demonstrate that the physically motivated models, such as the evaporation of primordial black holes and the decay of Q-balls, cannot produce an observable GW signal.