Probing Inflation with Space-Based Interferometry

Abstract: Our universe looks remarkably like the product of an inflationary phase in the very early universe. One hallmark of inflation is a stochastic background of gravitational wave perturbations with a nearly scale-invariant spectrum over a huge range of scales. I will discuss prospects for detecting this background at two widely separated scales: using B-mode polarization in the microwave background, and using a space-based laser interferometer. Detection on both of these scales would strongly constrain the expansion history of the universe at age 10^-35 seconds.