Related papers: Cosmological thermal decoupling and primordial mol…
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…
Intergalactic filaments form the foundation of the cosmic web that connect galaxies together, and provide an important reservoir of gas for galaxy growth and accretion. Here we present very high resolution two-dimensional simulations of the…
The thermal and expansion history of the Universe before big bang nucleosynthesis is unknown. We investigate the evolution of cosmological perturbations through the transition from an early matter era to radiation domination. We treat…
As the early universe expands and cools the rates of the weak interactions that keep neutrinos in thermal equilibrium with the matter and the related rates of the reactions that inter-convert neutrons and protons decrease. Eventually, these…
One of the fundamental problems of modern cosmology is to explain the origin of all the matter and radiation in the Universe today. The inflationary model predicts that the oscillations of the scalar field at the end of inflation will…
The consideration of dark energy's quanta, required also by thermodynamics, introduces its chemical potential into the cosmological equations. Isolating its main contribution, we obtain solutions with dark energy decaying to matter or…
We consider a cluster of Primordial Black Holes which is decoupled from the cosmological expansion (Hubble flow) and this region is heated as compared to the surrounding matter. The increased temperature inside the region can be explained…
Cosmology and astroparticle physics give strongest possible evidence for the incompleteness of the Standard Model of particle physics. Leaving aside misterious dark energy, which may or may not be just the cosmological constant, two…
In these notes we present a selection of topics, each section approximately amounting to one lecture. We begin with a brief recapitulation of General Relativity, and the Standard Model of Cosmology. This is followed by lectures on important…
We revisit the decoupling of neutrinos in the early universe with flavour oscillations. We rederive the quantum kinetic equations which determine the neutrino evolution based on a BBGKY-like hierarchy, and include for the first time the…
This paper continues the building of the cosmological theory that was introduced in two earlier papers under the title A Dust Universe Solution to the Dark Energy Problem. The model introduced in this theory has existence before time zero…
The fundamental constants at recombination can differ from their present-day values due to degeneracies in cosmological parameters, raising the possibility of yet-undiscovered physics coupled directly to the Standard Model. We study the…
We consider first-order phase transitions of the Universe in the radiation-dominated era. We argue that in general the velocity of interfaces is non-relativistic due to the interaction with the plasma and the release of latent heat. We…
Motivated by the stunning projections for future CMB surveys, we evaluate the amount of dark radiation produced in the early Universe by two-body decays or binary scatterings with thermal bath particles via a rigorous analysis in momentum…
We investigate the properties of the first galaxies at z > 10 with highly resolved numerical simulations, starting from cosmological initial conditions and taking into account all relevant primordial chemistry and cooling. A first galaxy is…
Galactic destruction of primordial deuterium is inevitably linked through star formation to the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The relatively high present gas content and low metallicity suggest only modest D-destruction. In concert with…
Many questions in physical cosmology regarding the thermal history of the intergalactic medium, chemical enrichment, reionization, etc. are thought to be intimately related to the nature and evolution of pregalactic structure. In particular…
The kinetic decoupling of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the early universe sets a scale that can directly be translated into a small-scale cutoff in the spectrum of matter density fluctuations. The formalism presented here…
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…
The formation of first stars and galaxies at the Cosmic Dawn had been preceded by the chain of primordial chemistry reactions during Dark Ages which generated first molecules, mostly H$_2$, HD, and HeH$^+$, so crucial for first stars to…