We consider the most general three point function for gravitational waves
produced during a period of exactly de Sitter expansion. The de Sitter
isometries constrain the possible shapes to only three: two preserving parity
and one violating parity. These isometries imply that these correlation
functions should be conformal invariant. One of the shapes is produced by the
ordinary gravity action. The other shape is produced by a higher derivative
correction and could be as large as the gravity contribution. The parity
violating shape does not contribute to the bispectrum [1106.3228, 1108.0175],
even though it is present in the wavefunction. We also introduce a spinor
helicity formalism to describe de Sitter gravitational waves with circular
polarization. These results also apply to correlation functions in Anti-de
Sitter space. They also describe the general form of stress tensor correlation
functions, in momentum space, in a three dimensional conformal field theory.
Here all three shapes can arise, including the parity violating one.Comment: 51 pages, v2: Corrected statement about parity violation in the
gravitational wave bispectrum. Some other changes and references adde
