Quark-hadron phase transition in the early Universe: Isothermal baryon-number fluctuations and primordial nucleosynthesis

Journal Article · Tue Mar 15 00:00:00 EST 1988 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.37.1380· OSTI ID:5438205

Fuller, G M; Mathews, G J; Alcock, C R

We study the quark-hadron transition in the early Universe and compute the amplitude of isothermal baryon-number fluctuations that emerge from this transition along with their effects on primordial nucleosynthesis. We find that such fluctuations are a natural consequence of a first-order phase transition occurring in the strongly interacting system. Fluctuation-generating mechanisms are discussed. We estimate the nucleation rate and derive the mean separation between fluctuations. It is shown that the amplitude of the fluctuations depends sensitively on the phase coexistence temperature T/sub c/ and on the baryon transmission probability ..sigma../sub h/ at the phase boundary. For realistic values of ..sigma../sub h/ and T/sub c/ the fluctuations are large and have a significant effect on primordial nucleosynthesis yields. With these fluctuations the limit on the baryonic contribution to ..cap omega.. depends primarily on what is taken to be the primordial /sup 7/Li abundance: ..cap omega.. = 1 in baryons would require large /sup 7/Li and /sup 2/H destruction factors during the evolution of the Galaxy.

• Research Organization: Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5438205
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Vol. 37:6
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
HADRONS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
QUARKS
GALACTIC EVOLUTION
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
QUARK MATTER
THEORETICAL DATA
DATA
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
INFORMATION
MATTER
NUMERICAL DATA
POSTULATED PARTICLES
SYNTHESIS
640106* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Cosmology
645400 - High Energy Physics- Field Theory