Big Bang Gravity Waves from Matter and Antimatter

[lcorria]

At the moment of the Big Bang there was almost the same amount of matter and antimatter. However due to a small preference for normal matter (cp violation) a small percentage of residual matter was left over with the bulk of the initial material being annihilated and converted into gamma rays which cooled (universal expansion/cooling) to the microwave 4K background seen by radio astronomers. This is fairly well understood I believe. But at the moment that the universe contained equal matter and antimatter in whatever exotic form (still too hot for normal hadrons like neutrons and protons I suspect) this primordial bulk of mass (up to 2 billion times the current universe's mass) should have generated an enormous gravitation field/wave which should still be traveling throughout the universe. Is this a realistic idea? And if so, wouldn't this primordial gravity be uniform similar to the background radiation (and equally as diluted). Also, I would think this extra "universal gravity field" would cause a significant discrepancy in the expansion of the universe? In the early universe (the further you look back in time/distance) the stronger the gravity field would be and it's effect much greater it's influence on the structure and development of the universe. Bottom line: Is there a Big Bang Background Gravitational Field?

[zephyr46]

or a tsunami of gravity waves following photons ?

[Haglund]

Interesting idea, never thought of that. I did try to find info for it but no succcess so far. I have to think about this more.

[kashi]

Welcome to the forum Icorria. A very good question indeed. If gravity "waves" travel at the speed of light, does this mean that the gravitational field's effects would have reached further from the initial point of expansion as the initial gamma rays produced by the annihilation of matter/anti-matter? (Pressumably no gamma radiation was produced until a small instant in time after the peak of the graviational field). The bulk of what we see looking into the distant universe must have therefore been unaffected by this background gravitational field (which had passed prior to the gamma radiation reaching a given distance from the initial singularity).

Or am I totally confused?

[tommac]

would this effect cause major time dilation over portions of the universe?

At the moment of the Big Bang there was almost the same amount of matter and antimatter. However due to a small preference for normal matter (cp violation) a small percentage of residual matter was left over with the bulk of the initial material being annihilated and converted into gamma rays which cooled (universal expansion/cooling) to the microwave 4K background seen by radio astronomers. This is fairly well understood I believe. But at the moment that the universe contained equal matter and antimatter in whatever exotic form (still too hot for normal hadrons like neutrons and protons I suspect) this primordial bulk of mass (up to 2 billion times the current universe's mass) should have generated an enormous gravitation field/wave which should still be traveling throughout the universe. Is this a realistic idea? And if so, wouldn't this primordial gravity be uniform similar to the background radiation (and equally as diluted). Also, I would think this extra "universal gravity field" would cause a significant discrepancy in the expansion of the universe? In the early universe (the further you look back in time/distance) the stronger the gravity field would be and it's effect much greater it's influence on the structure and development of the universe. Bottom line: Is there a Big Bang Background Gravitational Field?

[Cougar]

Is there a Big Bang Background Gravitational Field?

The gravitational wave background. It may be a few hundred years before we can figure out how to detect it. I don't think it is generated in the way you describe. In his book, Many Worlds in One [2006], Alex Vilenkin calls upon the details in the g-wave background to distinguish whether his theory is correct or whether other theories recently put forward by others are correct. All theories are in agreement back to about 1 second after the bang. What happened before that is in contention....

[loglo]

2003. I didn't even know BAUT was that old!

[mugaliens]

BAUT is actually 43,883 years old. But something very distant reflected the primordial gw, and it sort of skewed time in BAUT's local area...

[Cougar]

The gravitational wave background... It may be a few hundred years before we can figure out how to detect it.

Well, I take that back. This is why there is such interest in any signs of polarization in the CMB - One can see the effects of early-universe gravitational waves through careful detection and analysis of any polarization in the CMB radiation.

WMAP has detected some faint polarization. Planck should extend these findings....