Does strange matter evaporate in the early Universe

Journal Article · Sat Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Phys. Rev. D; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.34.2947· OSTI ID:7106250

Madsen, J; Heiselberg, H; Riisager, K

Evaporation of nuggets of strange quark matter in the early Universe is investigated. A model of nugget evaporation is developed, and is shown to permit the survival of nuggets with initial baryon number Aapprox. >10/sup 46/, when reabsorption of emitted hadrons is neglected. Reabsorption is shown to be potentially very important, making the survival of nuggets with a much lower initial baryon number possible. The evaporation rate of a nugget depends mainly on the effective binding energy of hadrons in a thin surface layer. This binding energy is shown to be several hundred MeV, determined by an equilibrium between emission of nucleons and kaons. A number of simplifying assumptions are explicitly discussed in order to stress the complicated physics involved. It is concluded that strange nuggets remain a possible candidate for the dark matter of the Universe.

• Research Organization: Institute of Astronomy, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C., Denmark
• OSTI ID: 7106250
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. D; (United States), Journal Name: Phys. Rev. D; (United States) Vol. 34:10; ISSN PRVDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640106* -- Astrophysics & Cosmology-- Cosmology
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BARYON NUMBER
BINDING ENERGY
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ENERGY
EVAPORATION
FIELD THEORIES
HADRONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATTER
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
QUANTUM CHROMODYNAMICS
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
QUARK MATTER
UNIVERSE