Universe (Jan 2024)

Primordial Gravitational Wave- and Curvature Perturbation-Induced Energy Density Perturbations

  • Zhe Chang,
  • Yu-Ting Kuang,
  • Xukun Zhang,
  • Jing-Zhi Zhou

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/universe10010039
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
p. 39

Abstract

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We study the second-order scalar and density perturbations generated by 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. We show that the primordial gravitational waves might affect second-order energy density perturbation δ(2)=δρ(2)/ρ(0) significantly. The effects of primordial gravitational waves are studied in terms of different kinds of primordial power spectra.

Keywords