de Sitter braneworld and gravitational waves

Abstract

We study the braneworld theory constructed by multi-scalar fields. The model contains a smooth and infinitely large extra dimension, allowing background fields to propagate in it. We give a de Sitter solution for the four-dimensional cosmology as a good approximation to the early universe inflation. We show that the graviton has a localizable massless mode, and a series of continuous massive modes, separated by a mass gap. There could be a normalizable massive mode, depending on the background solution. The gravitational waves of the massless mode evolve as in the four-dimensional theory, while those of the massive modes evolve very differently from the massless mode.