A program of research will be initiated to study plasmas in the early Universe, when general-relativistic effects due to the expansion of the background are significant. Plasma dynamics during this epoch could have important ramifications for the theory of galaxy formation and of the origin of intergalactic, and possibly also galactic, magnetic fields. The synthesis of general relativity and plasma physics is a field that is largely untouched, and the cosmological implications in particular are mostly unexplored. The simple linear theory of cosmological plasmas has been studied in the single-particle approximation and in the magnetohydrodynamic limit. A kinetic approach, based on the general-relativistic Boltzmann equation, will be carried out. In addition, some nonlinear analysis will be performed. However, for most nonlinear phenomena to be studied adequately, numerical simulation is necessary. Because the nonlinear, collective effects are among the most interesting, computer codes are being developed to investigate such effects. Many applications of these codes are underway or planned, including, but not limited to, the study of fluctuations in plasmas in the early Universe, the modeling of shock formation and heating due to mode interactions or to Alfven waves, and the investigation of the effect of dynamo and reconnection mechanisms on the origin of galactic and intergalactic magnetic fields.
