The energy levels of the left and the right handed neutrinos is split in the
background of gravitational waves generated during inflation which in presence
of lepton number violating interactions gives rise to a net lepton asymmetry at
equilibrium. Lepton number violation is achieved by the same dimension five
operator which gives rise to neutrino masses after electro-weak symmetry
breaking. A net baryon asymmetry of the same magnitude can be generated from
this lepton asymmetry by electroweak sphaleron processes.Comment: Journal version (accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett.