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【Abstract】

Gravitational waves are a unique probe of the early Universe, as the Universe is transparent to gravitational radiation right back to the beginning. Here, I will summarise some of the different scopes of primordial events that could lead to a detectable stochastic gravitational wave background. Any such background would shed light on what (if anything) lies beyond the Standard Model, sometimes at remarkably high scales. I will overview the range of strategies for detecting a stochastic gravitational wave background before delving deep into some of the major primordial events that can source such a background.