School of Earth and Space Exploration and Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Post Office Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
Science. 2010 May 21;328(5981):989-92. doi: 10.1126/science.1179541.
The observation of primordial gravitational waves could provide a new and unique window on the earliest moments in the history of the universe and on possible new physics at energies many orders of magnitude beyond those accessible at particle accelerators. Such waves might be detectable soon, in current or planned satellite experiments that will probe for characteristic imprints in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, or later with direct space-based interferometers. A positive detection could provide definitive evidence for inflation in the early universe and would constrain new physics from the grand unification scale to the Planck scale.
原始引力波的观测可以为宇宙历史早期以及在粒子加速器所能达到的能量多几个数量级的可能新物理提供一个新的、独特的窗口。这些波可能很快就可以通过当前或计划中的卫星实验探测到，这些实验将探测宇宙微波背景极化中的特征印记，或者以后通过直接的基于空间的干涉仪探测到。一个正面的探测结果可以为早期宇宙中的膨胀提供确凿的证据，并将约束从大统一尺度到普朗克尺度的新物理。
