Quark Nuggets as Baryonic Dark Matter
Abstract
The cosmic first-order phase transition from quarks to hadrons, occurring a few microseconds after the big bang, would lead to the formation of quark nuggets which would be stable on a cosmological timescale if the associated baryon number was larger than a critical value. We examine the possibility that these surviving quark nuggets may not only be viable candidates for cold dark matter but could even close the universe.
This work is dedicated to the memory of David N. Schramm.- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- March 1999
- DOI:
- 10.1086/306905
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/9704226
- Bibcode:
- 1999ApJ...513..572A
- Keywords:
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- COSMOLOGY: DARK MATTER;
- COSMOLOGY: EARLY UNIVERSE;
- ELEMENTARY PARTICLES;
- Cosmology: Dark Matter;
- Cosmology: Early Universe;
- Elementary Particles;
- Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- Latex file