The cosmological recombination of H and He at z \sim 1000 and the formation of H2 during the dark ages produce a non-thermal photon excess in the Wien tail of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) blackbody spectrum. Here we compute the effect of these photons on the H- photodetachment and H2+ photodissociation processes. We discuss the implications for the chemical evolution of the Universe in the post-recombination epoch, emphasizing how important a detailed account of the full vibrational manifold of H2 and H2+ in the chemical network is. We find that the final abundances of H2, H2+, H3+ and HD are significantly smaller than in previous calculations that neglected the effect of non-thermal photons. The suppression is mainly caused by extra hydrogen recombination photons and could affect the formation rate of first stars. We provide simple analytical approximations for the relevant rate coefficients and briefly discuss the additional effect of dark matter annihilation on the considered reaction rates.
The characteristic distribution of the matter in the universe and its observable expansion with apparent acceleration is the result of historical event - massive stellar explosions' radiation pressure on drifting particles of hydrogen environment in the early stage of universe evolution.
The properties of the neutrino in the early universe have been investigated incorporating a small inhomogeneity in the mass density of the early universe. Dependence on this factor is found in studying mean free path and mass bound of neutrinos. The oscillations of neutrinos flavours have been studied by assuming a free wave packet to represent the time progression of the neutrino yielding interesting results.
The most distant quasar yet discovered sets constraints on the formation mechanism of black holes. Its light spectrum has tantalizing features that are expected to be observed before the reionization epoch ended.
Primordial black holes which are created at the very early universe can get decayed in the matter dominated era and thus produce photons, hence resulting in dilution of the baryon asymmetry and evolution of the cosmological scale factor. This process is tested and calculated by considering instant decay approximation, the realistic model of universe expansion and also considering the LogNormal spectrum of the primordial blackholes.
Cosmic strings are topological defects which can be formed as a result of phase transitions with a spontaneous symmetry breaking in the early Universe. The possibility of the generation of a magnetic field around a cosmic string on the Grand Unification energy scale (GUT scale) in the early Universe immediately after the termination of the deconfinement-confinement phase transition has been analyzed. It is found that a circular current and a magnetic field directed along the string are induced around the string in the vacuum of a pseudoscalar matter consisting of charged pions. We also have st…
The role of HeH+ has been newly assessed with the aid of newly calculated rates which use entirely ab initio methods, thereby allowing us to compute more accurately the relevant abundances within the global chemical network of the early universe. A comparison with the similar role of the ionic molecule LiH+ is also presented. Quantum calculations have been carried out for the gas-phase reaction of HeH+ with H atoms with our new in-house code, based on the negative imaginary potential method. Integral cross sections and reactive rate coefficients obtained under the general conditions of early u…
The standard theory of cosmic structure formation posits that the present-day rich structure of the Universe developed through gravitational amplification of tiny matter density fluctuations generated in its very early history. Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure, and distant supernovae determined the energy content of the Universe and the basic statistics of the initial density field with great accuracy. It has become possible to make accurate predictions for the formation and nonlinear growth of structure from early to the present epochs. We review r…
This contribution gives a brief overview of the theoretical ideas underlying our current understanding of the early Universe. Confronting the predictions of the early Universe models with cosmological observations, in particular of the cosmic microwave background fluctuations, will improve our knowledge about the physics of the primordial Universe.
We study the effects of various phenomena which may have happened in the early universe on the spectrum of inflationary gravitational waves. The phenomena include phase transitions, entropy productions from non-relativistic matter, the production of dark radiation, and decoupling of dark matter/radiation from thermal bath. These events can create several characteristic signatures in the inflationary gravitational wave spectrum, which may be direct probes of the history of the early universe and the nature of high-energy physics.
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) are, typically light, black holes which can form in the early Universe. There are a number of formation mechanisms, including the collapse of large density perturbations, cosmic string loops and bubble collisions. The number of PBHs formed is tightly constrained by the consequences of their evaporation and their lensing and dynamical effects. Therefore PBHs are a powerful probe of the physics of the early Universe, in particular models of inflation. They are also a potential cold dark matter candidate.
We discuss properties and evolution of quark-gluon plasma in the early Universe and compare to laboratory heavy ion experiments. We describe how matter and antimatter emerged from a primordial soup of quarks and gluons. We focus our discussion on similarities and differences between the early Universe and the laboratory experiments.
In this paper it is suggested that inclusion of mutual gravitational interactions among the particles in the early dense universe can lead to a 'pre-big bang' scenario, with particle masses greater than the Planck mass implying an accelerating phase of the universe, which then goes into the radiation phase when the masses fall below the Planck mass. The existence of towers of states of such massive particles (i.e. multiples of Planck mass) as implied in various unified theories, provides rapid acceleration in the early universe, similar to the usual inflation scenario, but here the expansion r…
We consider the production of primordial micro black holes (MBH) remnants in the early universe. These objects induce the universe to be in a matter-dominated era before the onset of inflation. Effects of such an epoch on the CMB power spectrum are discussed and computed both analytically and numerically. By comparison with the latest observational data from the WMAP collaboration, we find that our model is able to explain the quadrupole anomaly of the CMB power spectrum.
High energy collisions of particles may have created tiny black holes in the early Universe, which might leave stable remnants instead of fully evaporating as a result of Hawking radiation. If the reheating temperature was sufficiently close to the fundamental gravity scale, which can be different from the usual Planck scale depending of the presence and properties of spatial extra-dimensions, the formation rate could have been sufficiently high and hence such remnants could account for the entire cold dark matter of the Universe.
We propose a phenomenological model for the early universe where there is a smooth transition between an early "quintessence" phase and a radiation dominated era. The matter content is modelled by an appropriately modified Chaplygin gas for the early universe. We constrain the model observationally by mapping the primordial power spectrum of the scalar perturbations to the latest data of WMAP7. We compute as well the spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves as would be measured today. We show that the high frequencies region of the spectrum depends on the free parameter of the model and …
Dark matter represents currently an outstanding problem in both cosmology and particle physics. In this review we discuss the possible explanations for dark matter and the experimental observables which can eventually lead to the discovery of dark matter and its nature, and demonstrate the close interplay between the cosmological properties of the early Universe and the observables used to constrain dark matter models in the context of new physics beyond the Standard Model.
In this work an update of the cosmological role and place of the chiral tensor particles in the Universe history is provided. We discuss an extended model with chiral tensor particles. The influence of these particles on the early Universe evolution is studied. Namely, the increase of the Universe expansion rate caused by the additional particles in this extended model is calculated, their characteristic interactions with the particles of the hot Universe plasma are studied and the corresponding times of their creation, scattering, annihilation and decay are estimated for accepted values of th…
Bose-Einstein condensation in the early universe is considered. The magnetic properties of a condensate of charged vector bosons are studied, showing that a ferromagnetic state is formed. As a consequence, the primeval plasma may be spontaneously magnetized inside macroscopically large domains and primordial magnetic fields can be generated.
I review the "Trans-Planckian Censorship Conjecture" (TCC) and its implications for cosmology, in particular for the inflationary universe scenario. Whereas the inflationary scenario is tightly constrained by the TCC, alternative early universe scenarios are not restricted.
We study the singularity of the congruences for both timelike and null geodesic curves using the expansion of the early anisotropic Bianchi type I Universe. In this paper, we concentrate on the influence of the shear of the timelike and null geodesic congruences in the early Universe. Under some natural conditions, we derive the Raychaudhuri type equation for the expansion and the shear-related equations. Recently, scientists working on the LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) have shown many possibilities to observing the anisotropy of the primordial gravitational wave b…
It has recently been pointed out that Gaia is capable of detecting a stochastic gravitational wave background in the sensitivity band between the frequency of pulsar timing arrays and LISA. We argue that Gaia and THEIA has great potential for early universe cosmology, since such a frequency range is ideal for probing phase transitions in asymmetric dark matter, SIMP and the cosmological QCD transition. Furthermore, there is the potential for detecting primordial black holes in the solar mass range produced during such an early universe transition and distinguish them from those expected from t…
We investigate the effects of primordial non-Gaussianities in the primordial Universe on the baryonic structure formation process. By relating the cosmic star formation rate in Gaussian and non-Gaussian scenarios to the detectability of high-redshift sources of reionization, we derive the expected Gamma-Ray Burst rate in the different models. We find that counts of high-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts can be used as cosmological probes of non-Gaussianities and that they are suitable candidates to distinguish non-Gaussian effects at early epochs.
k-essence scalar field models are usually taken to have lagrangians of the form ${\mathcal L}=-V(ϕ)F(X)$ with $F$ some general function of $X=\nabla_μϕ\nabla^μϕ$. Under certain conditions this lagrangian in the context of the early universe can take the form of that of an oscillator with time dependent frequency. The Ermakov invariant for a time dependent oscillator in a cosmological scenario then leads to an invariant quadratic form involving the Hubble parameter and the logarithm of the scale factor. In principle, this invariant can lead to further observational probes for the early universe…
Flavor violating axion couplings can be in action before recombination, and they can fill the early universe with an additional radiation component. Working within a model-independent framework, we consider an effective field theory for the axion field and quantify axion production. Current cosmological data exclude already a fraction of the available parameter space, and the bounds will improve significantly with future CMB-S4 surveys. Remarkably, we find that future cosmological bounds will be comparable or even stronger than the ones obtained in our terrestrial laboratories.
In this work, the Friedman equations for hadronic matter in the Robertson-Walker metric in the early Universe are obtained. We consider the hadronic phase, formed after the hadronization of the quark-gluon plasma, that means times from 10^{-6}s to 1s. The set of equations is derived and the behavior of the system is studied considering one approximate analytical solution.
Nuclear physics experiments give reaction rates that, via modelling and comparison with primordial abundances, constrain cosmological parameters. The error bars of a key reaction, \dpg, were tightened in 2020, bringing to light discrepancies between different analyses and calling for more accurate measurements of other reactions.
Theoretical investigations into the evolution of the early universe are an essential part of particle physics that allow us to identify viable extensions to the Standard Model as well as motivated parameter space that can be probed by various experiments and observations. In this white paper, we review particle physics models of the early universe. First, we outline various models that explain two essential ingredients of the early universe (dark matter and baryon asymmetry) and those that seek to address current observational anomalies. We then discuss dynamics of the early universe in models…
The cosmological constant is not necessarily small in the early universe. If a scalar field obtains a vacuum expectation value after a phase transition (PT), a possibly large cosmological constant could present before PT. The early cosmological constant (ECC) and the PT process may be detectable from dark radiation (DR) today, such as in the cosmic axion background. We show that for a broad class of DR models, the DR density and spectrum are significantly modified by the presence of an ECC. From the density and the spectrum of the DR today, we can deduce the temperature and the strength of the…
A mechanism of creation of stellar-like objects in the very early universe, from the QCD phase transition till BBN and somewhat later, is studied. It is argued that in the considered process primordial black holes with masses above a few solar masses up to super-heavy ones could be created. This may explain an early quasar creation with evolved chemistry in surrounding medium and the low mass cutoff of the observed black holes. It is also shown that dense primordial stars can be created at the considered epoch. Such stars could later become very early supernovae and in particular high redshift…
Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) represents one of the earliest phenomena that can lead to observational constraints on the early Universe properties. It is well-known that many important mechanisms and phase transitions occurred before BBN. We discuss the possibility of gaining insight into the primordial Universe through studies of dark matter in cosmology, astroparticle physics and colliders. For this purpose, we assume that dark matter is a thermal relic, and show that combining collider searches with dark matter observables can lead to strong constraints on the period of freeze-out before B…
We give a pedagogical introduction to two aspects of magnetic fields in the early universe. We first focus on how to formulate electrodynamics in curved space time, defining appropriate magnetic and electric fields and writing Maxwell equations in terms of these fields. We then specialize to the case of magnetohydrodynamics in the expanding universe. We emphasize the usefulness of tetrads in this context. We then review the generation of magnetic fields during the inflationary era, deriving in detail the predicted magnetic and electric spectra for some models. We discuss potential problems ari…
Assuming that superstring theory is the fundamental theory which unifies all forces of Nature at the quantum level, I argue that there are key limitations on the applicability of effective field theory techniques in describing early universe cosmology.
When the expansion of the universe is dominated by a perfect fluid with equation of state parameter $w$ and a sound speed $c_s$ satisfying $w = c_s^2 \le 1$, the Hubble parameter $H$ and time $t$ satisfy the bound $Ht \ge 1/3$. There has been recent interest in "ultra-slow" expansion laws with $Ht < 1/3$ (sometimes described as "fast expanding" models). We examine various models that can produce ultra-slow expansion: scalar fields with negative potentials, barotropic fluids, braneworld models, or a loitering phase in the early universe. Scalar field models and barotropic models for ultra-slow …
Observational cosmology is in its "golden age" with a vast amount of recent data on the distribution of matter and light in the universe. This data can be used to probe theories of the very early universe. It is small amplitude cosmological fluctuations which encode the information about the very early universe and relate it to current data. Hence, a central topic in these lectures is the "theory of cosmological perturbations", the theory which describes the generation of inhomogeneities in the very early universe and their evolution until the current time. I will apply this theory to three cl…
Cosmological inflation is not the only early universe scenario consistent with current observational data. I will discuss the criteria for a successful early universe cosmology, compare a couple of the proposed scenarios (inflation, bouncing cosmologies, and the {\it emergent} scenario), focusing on how future observational data will be able to distinguish between them. I will argue that we need to go beyond effective field theory in order to understand the early universe, and that principles of superstring theory will yield a nonsingular cosmology.
We derive a curved space generalization of a scalar to fermion decay rate with a Yukawa coupling in expanding Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes. This is done using the full theory of quantum fields in curved spacetime and the added-up transition probability method. It is found that in an expanding universe the usual Minkowskian decay rates are considerably modified for early times. For conformally coupled scalars the decay rate is modified by a positive additive term proportional to the inverse of mass and related to the expansion rate of the Universe. We compare and contrast our results wi…
In these lectures I focus on early universe models which can explain the currently observed structure on large scales. I begin with a survey of inflationary cosmology, the current paradigm for understanding the origin of the universe as we observe it today. I will discuss some progress and problems in inflationary cosmology before moving on to a description of two alternative scenarios - the Matter Bounce and String Gas Cosmology. All early universe models connect to observations via the evolution of cosmological perturbations - a topic which will be discussed in detail in these lectures.
The realistic equation of state of strongly interacting matter, that has been successfully applied in the recent hydrodynamic studies of hadron production in relativistic heavy-ion collisions at RHIC, is used in the Friedmann equation to determine the precise time evolution of thermodynamic parameters in the early Universe. A comparison with the results obtained with simple ideal-gas equations of state is made. The realistic equation of state describes a crossover rather than the first-order phase transition between the quark-gluon plasma and hadronic matter. Our numerical calculations show th…
Torsion arising from fermionic matter in the Einstein-Cartan formulation of general relativity is considered in the context of Robertson-Walker geometries and the early Universe. An ambiguity in the way torsion arising from hot fermionic matter in chiral models should be implemented is highlighted and discussed. In one interpretation, chemical potentials in chiral models can contribute to the Friedmann equation and give a negative contribution to the energy density.
We review and discuss recent work exploring the implications of the Higgs field for early universe cosmology, and vice versa. Depending on the model under consideration the Higgs may be one of a few scalar fields determining the evolution and fate of the Universe, or the Higgs field may be connected to a rich sector of scalar moduli with complicated dynamics. In particular we look at the potential consequences of the Higgs field for inflation and its predictions, for the (meta)stability of the Standard Model vacuum, and for the existence of dynamical selection mechanisms in the landscape.
To further shed light on whether pre-recombination models can resolve the Hubble tension, we explore constraints on the cosmic background evolution that are insensitive to early-universe physics. The analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy has been thought to highly rely on early-universe physics. However, we show that the fact that the sound horizon at recombination being close to that at the end of the drag epoch is insensitive to early-universe physics. This allows us to link the absolute sizes of the two horizons and treat them as free parameters. Jointly, the CMB peak…
A procedure is described whereby a linearly coupled spinor Bose condensate can be used as a physically accessible quantum simulator of the early universe. In particular, an experiment to generate an analog of an unstable vacuum in a relativistic scalar field theory is proposed. This is related to quantum theories of the inflationary phase of the early universe. There is an unstable vacuum sector whose dynamics correspond to the quantum sine-Gordon equations in one, two or three space dimensions. Numerical simulations of the expected behavior are reported using a truncated Wigner phase-space me…
Mechanisms for the generation of the matter-antimatter asymmetry and dark matter strongly depend on the reheating temperature T_R, the maximal temperature reached in the early universe. Forthcoming results from the LHC, low energy experiments, astrophysical observations and the Planck satellite will significantly constrain baryogenesis and the nature of dark matter, and thereby provide valuable information about the very early hot universe. At present, a wide range of reheating temperatures is still consistent with observations. We illustrate possible origins of matter and dark matter with fou…
The knowledge of the universe future is of fundamental importance for any advanced civilization. We study the future of singular dark universe where thermal effects due to the Hawking radiation on the apparent horizon of the FRW universe are taken in consideration. It is shown that dark universe which ends up at finite-time Type I and Type III singularity or infinite-time Little Rip singularity transits to finite-time Type II singularity due to account of thermal effects. On the same time, the Type II and IV singular universe does not change its qualitative behavior. The combined account of qu…
Cosmic inflation is commonly assumed to be driven by quantum fields. Quantum mechanics predicts phenomena such as quantum fluctuations and tunneling of the field. Here we show an example of a quantum interference effect which goes beyond the semi-classical treatment and which may be of relevance in the early universe. We study the quantum coherent dynamics for a tilted, periodic potential, which results in genuine quantum oscillations of the inflaton field, analogous to Bloch oscillations in condensed matter and atomic systems. Our results show that quantum interference phenomena may be of rel…
The sensitivity of the lightest supersymmetric particle relic density calculation to different cosmological scenarios is discussed. In particular, we investigate the effects of modifications of the expansion rate and of the entropy content in the Early Universe. These effects, even with no observational consequences, can still drastically modify the relic density constraints on the SUSY parameter space. We suggest general parametrizations to evaluate such effects, and derive also constraints from Big-Bang nucleosynthesis. We show that using the relic density in the context of supersymmetric co…
