Cosmic separation of phases
1984/07/15 by Edward Witten · 3,489 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Baryon #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Nuclear physics #Particle physics #Phase transition #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #QCD matter #Quantum chromodynamics #Quantum mechanics #Quark #Quark star #Strange matter #Universe
paper · doi:10.1103/physrevd.30.272
published in Physical review. D. Particles, fields, gravitation, and cosmology/Physical review. D. Particles and fields 30(2), 272-285 (American Physical Society)
openalex publication_date 1984/07/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Abstract
A first-order QCD phase transition that occurred reversibly in the early universe would lead to a surprisingly rich cosmological scenario. Although observable consequences would not necessarily survive, it is at least conceivable that the phase transition would concentrate most of the quark excess in dense, invisible quark nuggets, providing an explanation for the dark matter in terms of QCD effects only. This possibility is viable only if quark matter has energy per baryon less than 938 MeV. Two related issues are considered in appendices: the possibility that neutron stars generate a quark-matter component of cosmic rays, and the possibility that the QCD phase transition may have produced a detectable gravitational signal.
Citations
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