Did Gravitational Waves Affect the Evolution of the Universe?

Abstract

As Cosmologists struggle to understand the evolution of our universe, an often over-looked element is the affect of gravitational radiation on the primordial plasma field. This appears to be due to the inaccurate approximation of the primordial plasma field as a simple hydrodynamic fluid, therefore neglecting the full dynamics of the magneto-fluid. In this paper, we show how gravitational waves may have had a significant impact on the evolution of our universe. While more work is needed, the author hopes to eventually develop a large-scale simulation of structure formation in the early universe, which takes the interactions of scalar perturbations, gravitational waves, magnetic fields and a dynamic plasma field into account.