Gravity waves.

Researchers from the BICEP2 collaboration have found direct evidence for the inflationary model of the universe. The model that states that after a fraction of a second after the big bang, the universe began to increase exponentially in size. In order to solve other issues that were of concern in cosmology. One of them being, "Why is the universe so uniform?". Their data represents the first images of ripples in space-time. Waves that were spawned right after the big bang, analogous to a rock causing waves on water. An inadequate analogy but it suffices. Gravity waves were phenomena predicted by Einstein in his General theory of relativity. The theory in which he used his Equivalence Principle. Where acceleration and gravity are essentially indistinguishable as well as seeing the fabric of space capable of distortions due to gravity. And if this space can be distorted, gravity waves should also appear on this fabric of space-time. The data found now confirms a link between quantum mechanics and general relativity, something which many theorists are working on. This is major step forward in modern cosmology because it was one of the last phenomena that General relativity predicted and is now experimentally confirmed. This confirmation spawned from data that the BICEP2 telescope collected from the cosmic microwave background radiation. This is essentially the light glow left over from the big bang. And as light can be polarized, we can detect if there is any polarization in the photons of the cosmic microwave background radiation. The team hunted for a specific polarization of light known as B-modes. Which represent a twisting or curling pattern in the orientation of the archaic light. Gravity waves can squeeze space as they travel, and it is theorized that this squeezing is what is causing the polarization of the photons. And what's even more crazy is that even gravity waves can be polarized. Being left handed or right handed, in some sense. "The swirly B-mode pattern is a unique signature of gravitational waves because of their handedness. This is the first direct image of gravitational waves across the primordial sky," said co-leader Chao-Lin Kuo (Stanford/SLAC).The place where they went was the south pole, where air would be cold and dry, ideal for measurements such as this. Perfect for observing faint microwaves. Another surprise that the researchers were presented with was that the B-mode polarization was stronger than some cosmologists had predicted. This data now provides insight as to when inflation may have occurred and the intensity of the process. Source

These image show the fluctuations in temperature. And the black lines show the twisting pattern in polarized photons of the CMB.
Image Credit: BICEP2 Collaboration.