Relics of the Cosmological QCD Phase Transition

TL;DR

This paper estimates the abundance and size distribution of quark nuggets formed during the early universe's QCD phase transition, suggesting they could be a candidate for dark matter and examining their evolution.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed estimates of quark nugget abundance, size distribution, and their potential role as dark matter candidates after the QCD phase transition.

Findings

Stable quark nuggets could account for dark matter.

Baryon inhomogeneity evolution influenced by evaporated quark nuggets.

Quantitative estimates of quark nugget properties post-phase transition.

Abstract

The abundance and size distribution of quark nuggets (QN), formed a few microseconds after the big bang due to first order QCD phase transition in the early universe, has been estimated. It appears that stable QNs could be a viable candidate for cosmological dark matter. The evolution of baryon inhomogeneity due to evaporated (unstable) QNs are also examined.