Early universe may have been dominated by bobbing waves  Jul 24,
2012 by Lisa Zyga feature Oscillon simulations show that
inflation may have been immediately followed by an oscillon-
dominated phase of the early universe. Image credit: Amin, et
al. ©2012 American Physical Society  (Phys.org) -- Localized
waves that bob up and down without dissipating their energy,
called “oscillons,” may have dominated the early universe
shortly after inflation. A collaboration of physicists from MIT,
Yale University, and Stanford University has discovered that
copious amounts of oscillons arise in simulations based on
several realistic inflationary models and could have caused
novel gravitational effects in the early universe, although it
is unclear whether the effects could be directly observed today.
The physicists have published their paper on the possibility of
oscillons existing after inflation in a recent issue of Physical
Review Letters.  As the scientists explain in their paper,
oscillons are massive, long-lived exci