Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2003-03-26
Annalen Phys.12:220-270,2003
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
review to appear in Annalen der Physik (51 pages, 16 figures); references added (v2); typos corrected, resembles published ver
Scientific paper
10.1002/andp.200310010
The history of the Universe after its first second is now tested by high quality observations of light element abundances and temperature anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background. The epoch of the first second itself has not been tested directly yet; however, it is constrained by experiments at particle and heavy ion accelerators. Here I attempt to describe the epoch between the electroweak transition and the primordial nucleosynthesis. The most dramatic event in that era is the quark--hadron transition at 10 $\mu$s. Quarks and gluons condense to form a gas of nucleons and light mesons, the latter decay subsequently. At the end of the first second, neutrinos and neutrons decouple from the radiation fluid. The quark--hadron transition and dissipative processes during the first second prepare the initial conditions for the synthesis of the first nuclei. As for the cold dark matter (CDM), WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) -- the most popular candidates for the CDM -- decouple from the presently known forms of matter, chemically (freeze-out) at 10 ns and kinetically at 1 ms. The chemical decoupling fixes their present abundances and dissipative processes during and after thermal decoupling set the scale for the very first WIMP clouds.
No associations
LandOfFree
The first second of the Universe does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The first second of the Universe, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The first second of the Universe will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-76174