Related papers: Post-inflationary thermalization with hadronizatio…
The big bang model and the history of the early universe according to the grand unified theories are introduced. The shortcomings of big bang are discussed together with their resolution by inflationary cosmology. Inflation, the subsequent…
The early stages of the universe evolution are discussed according to the hot big bang model and the grand unified theories. The shortcomings of big bang are summarized and their resolution by inflationary cosmology is sketched.…
Hydrodynamical analysis of experimental data of ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions seems to indicate that the hot QCD matter created in the collisions thermalizes very quickly. Theoretically, we have no idea why this should be true. In…
The paradigm of the inflationary universe provides a possible explanation for several observed cosmological properties. In order for such solutions to be successful, the universe must convert the energy stored in the inflaton potential into…
We consider the non-equilibrium evolution of the inflaton field coupled to both lighter scalars and fermions. The dissipational dynamics of this field is studied and found to be quite different than that believed in inflationary models. In…
Transition from the quark-gluon (QG) plasma to a hadronic gas is studied in the framework of the relativistic combustion theory. The calculations reveal that the QG phase must be in a strongly supercooled state. The stability of this…
Following inflation, the Universe may pass through an early matter-dominated phase supported by the oscillating inflaton condensate. Initially small fluctuations in the condensate grow gravitationally on subhorizon scales and can collapse…
Topical phenomena in high-energy physics related to collision experiments of heavy nuclei ("Little Bang") and early universe cosmology ("Big Bang") involve far-from-equilibrium dynamics described by quantum field theory. One example…
The time-scales of rehadronization are considered for a baryon-free QGP at RHIC and LHC energies. The non-equilibrium nucleation scenario leads to mechanical instability of the supercooled QGP phase which then may be suddenly converted in a…
The cosmological QCD phase transition is studied in terms of the color confinement at finite temperature using the dual Higgs theory of QCD. The confinement force is largely reduced at high temperature, which leads to the swelling of…
We explain how a $SU(N_c)$ gauge theory, decoupled from the standard model and with a high-lying strong coupling scale, can incorporate apparently unrelated cosmological features, such as Inflation and dark matter, using well-understood…
A QCD phase transition in the early universe could have left inhomogeneities in the baryon to photon ratio and in isospin that might have affected nucleosynthesis later on. At very high temperature QCD plasma can be described by…
The shortcomings of the Standard Big Bang Cosmological Model as well as their resolution in the context of inflationary cosmology are discussed. The inflationary scenario and the subsequent oscillation and decay of the inflaton field are…
We investigate thermalization of gluons in spatially homogeneous systems using the Boltzmann equation in diffusion approximation. A complete picture on thermalization is obtained for both initially under- and over-populated systems. In an…
In nuclear collisions at relativistic energies, matter is created which resembles closely the matter that filled all space until about 15 microseconds after the big bang. Here we summarize selected aspects of the research that led to the…
A fireball model with time evolution based on transport calculations is used to examine the dilepton emission rate of an ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collision. We assume a transition from hadronic matter to a quark-gluon plasma at a…
We perform a systematic analysis of dark matter production during post-inflationary reheating. Following the period of exponential expansion, the inflaton begins a period of damped oscillations as it decays. These oscillations and the…
We present a microscopic approach to dynamical pionisation of the hot quark-gluon matter formed in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. The time evolution of the system is described assuming that quarks undergo Brownian motion in a…
During (re)heating of the universe after inflation, the relativistic decay products of the inflaton field $\phi$ must lose energy and additional particles must be produced to attain a thermalised state at a temperature $T_{\reh}$. We…
Any viable inflationary model must account for reheating of the universe prior to the onset of primordial nucleosynthesis. In this work, we study the reheating mechanism for an inflaton field with a quartic minimum, assuming that the main…