Perturbations of ionization fractions at the cosmological recombination epoch

The development of perturbations of number densities of ions and electrons during the recombination epoch is analysed. The equations for relative perturbations of ionization fractions were derived from the system of equations for accurate computation of the ionization history of the early Universe. It is shown that strong dependence of ionization and recombination rates on the density and temperature of plasma provides the significant deviations of amplitudes of ionization fractions relative to perturbations from those of baryon matter density adiabatic perturbations. Such deviations are most prominent for cosmological adiabatic perturbations of scales larger than the sound horizon at the recombination epoch. The amplitudes of relative perturbations of number densities of electrons and protons at the last scattering surface exceed by a factor of ≃5 the amplitude of the relative perturbation of baryons total number density: for helium ions this ratio reaches a value of ≃18. For subhorizon cosmological perturbations, these ratios appear to be essentially smaller and depend on oscillation phase at the moment of decoupling. These perturbations of number densities of ions and electrons at the recombination epoch do not contribute to the intrinsic plasma temperature fluctuations but cause the ‘corrugation’ of the last scattering surface in optical depth, δ z dec /( z dec + 1) ≈−δ b /3 , at scales larger than the sound horizon. It may result in notable changes of pre‐calculated values of the cosmic microwave background polarization pattern at several degrees of angular scales.