THE INFLATIONARY ENERGY SCALE

The energy scale of inflation is of much interest, as it suggests the scale of grand unified physics, governs whether cosmological events su ch as topological defect formation can occur after inflation, and also determines the amplitude of gravitational waves which may be detectab le using interferometers. The COBE results are used to limit the energ y scale of inflation at the time large scale perturbations were imprin ted. An exact dynamical treatment based on the Hamilton-Jacobi equatio ns is then used to translate this into limits on the energy scale at t he end of inflation. General constraints are given, and then tighter c onstraints based on physically motivated assumptions regarding the all owed forms of density perturbation and gravitational wave spectra. The se are also compared with the values of familiar models.