A Short Survey of Matter-Antimatter Evolution in the Primordial Universe

Johann Rafelski, Jeremiah Birrell, Andrew Steinmetz, Cheng Tao Yang

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

We offer a survey of the matter-antimatter evolution within the primordial Universe. While the origin of the tiny matter-antimatter asymmetry has remained one of the big questions in modern cosmology, antimatter itself has played a large role for much of the Universe’s early history. In our study of the evolution of the Universe we adopt the position of the standard model Lambda-CDM Universe implementing the known baryonic asymmetry. We present the composition of the Universe across its temperature history while emphasizing the epochs where antimatter content is essential to our understanding. Special topics we address include the heavy quarks in quark-gluon plasma (QGP), the creation of matter from QGP, the free-streaming of the neutrinos, the vanishing of the muons, the magnetism in the electron-positron cosmos, and a better understanding of the environment of the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) producing the light elements. We suggest but do not explore further that the methods used in exploring the early Universe may also provide new insights in the study of exotic stellar cores, magnetars, as well as gamma-ray burst (GRB) events. We describe future investigations required in pushing known physics to its extremes in the unique laboratory of the matter-antimatter early Universe.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number309
JournalUniverse
Volume9
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2023

Keywords

  • particles
  • plasmas and electromagnetic fields in cosmology
  • quarks to cosmos

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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