Primordial gravitational waves and curvature perturbations induced energy density perturbation

Abstract

We study the second order scalar and density perturbations generated by the Gaussian curvature perturbations and primordial gravitational waves in the radiation-dominated era. After presenting all the possible second-order source terms, we obtain the explicit expressions of the kernel functions and the power spectra of the second order scalar perturbations. It shows that the primordial gravitational waves might affect the second order energy density perturbation significantly. The effects of the primordial gravitational waves are studied in terms of different kinds of primordial power spectra.