The paper begins with a brief recollection of interactions of the author with Ya B Zeldovich in the context of the study of relic gravitational waves. The principles and early results on the quantum-mechanical generation of cosmological perturbations are then summarized. The expected amplitudes of relic gravitational waves differ in various frequency windows, and therefore the techniques and prospects of their detection are distinct. One section of the paper describes the present state of efforts in direct detection of relic gravitational waves. Another section is devoted to indirect detection via the anisotropy and polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. It is emphasized throughout the paper that the inference about the existence and expected amount of relic gravitational waves is based on a solid theoretical foundation and the best available cosmological observations. It is also explained in great detail what went wrong with the so-called ’inflationary gravitational waves’, whose amount is predicted by inflationary theorists to be negligibly small, thus depriving them of any observational significance.

Enlarged version of the report submitted to International Conference on Cosmology and High-Energy Astrophysics dedicated to the 90th anniversary of birthday of Ya B Zeldovich, Moscow, December 20-24, 2004
http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/Z-90/

Editors’ Note: The present paper by L P Grishchuk provoked a criticism that would be revealed in the letter by V N Lukash to Physics-Uspekhi, published in the next issue of the journal: Phys. Usp. 49 (1) 103 (2006).

PACS: 04.30.−w, 04.62.+v, 98.80.−k (all) DOI: 10.1070/PU2005v048n12ABEH005795 URL: https://ufn.ru/en/articles/2005/12/b/ 000236670800002 2005PhyU...48.1235G Citation: Grishchuk L P "Relic gravitational waves and cosmology" Phys. Usp. 48 1235–1247 (2005) BibTexBibNote ® (generic)BibNote ® (RIS)MedlineRefWorks Оригинал: Грищук Л П «Реликтовые гравитационные волны и космология» УФН 175 1289–1303 (2005); DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0175.200512b.1289