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The first second of the Universe
Author(s) -
Schwarz D.J.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
annalen der physik
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.009
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1521-3889
pISSN - 0003-3804
DOI - 10.1002/andp.200310010
Subject(s) - physics , particle physics , big bang nucleosynthesis , universe , decoupling (probability) , nucleosynthesis , neutrino , quark–gluon plasma , weakly interacting massive particles , electroweak interaction , quark , nuclear physics , cosmology , astrophysics , nuclear reaction , scalar field dark matter , dark energy , control engineering , engineering
Abstract 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 μs. 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.