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The First Three Seconds: a Review of Possible Expansion Histories of the Early Universe Swarthmore College Works Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works Physics & Astronomy 1-29-2021 The First Three Seconds: A Review Of Possible Expansion Histories Of The Early Universe R. Allahverdi M. A. Amin A. Berlin N. Bernal C. T. Byrnes See next page for additional authors Follow this and additional works at: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-physics Part of the Physics Commons Let us know how access to these works benefits ouy Recommended Citation R. Allahverdi, M. A. Amin, A. Berlin, N. Bernal, C. T. Byrnes, M. S. Delos, A. L. Erickcek, M. Escudero, D. G. Figueroa, K. Freese, T. Harada, D. Hooper, D. I. Kaiser, T. Karwal, K. Kohri, G. Krnjaic, M. Lewicki, K. D. Lozanov, V. Poulin, K. Sinha, Tristan L. Smith, T. Takahashi, T. Tenkanen, J. Unwin, V. Vaskonen, and S. Watson. (2021). "The First Three Seconds: A Review Of Possible Expansion Histories Of The Early Universe". The Open Journal of Astrophysics. Volume 4, DOI: 10.21105/astro.2006.16182 https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-physics/432 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This work is brought to you for free by Swarthmore College Libraries' Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of Works. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authors R. Allahverdi, M. A. Amin, A. Berlin, N. Bernal, C. T. Byrnes, M. S. Delos, A. L. Erickcek, M. Escudero, D. G. Figueroa, K. Freese, T. Harada, D. Hooper, D. I. Kaiser, T. Karwal, K. Kohri, G. Krnjaic, M. Lewicki, K. D. Lozanov, V. Poulin, K. Sinha, Tristan L. Smith, T. Takahashi, T. Tenkanen, J. Unwin, V. Vaskonen, and S. Watson This article is available at Works: https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-physics/432 FERMILAB-PUB-20-242-A, KCL-PH-TH/2020-33 KEK-Cosmo-257, KEK-TH-2231 IPMU20-0070, PI/UAN-2020-674FT Version January 29, 2021 RUP-20-22 Preprint typeset using LATEX style openjournal v. 09/06/15 THE FIRST THREE SECONDS: A REVIEW OF POSSIBLE EXPANSION HISTORIES OF THE EARLY UNIVERSE Rouzbeh Allahverdi1, Mustafa A. Amin2, Asher Berlin3, Nicolas´ Bernal4, Christian T. Byrnes5, M. Sten Delos6, Adrienne L. Erickcek6, Miguel Escudero7, Daniel G. Figueroa8, Katherine Freese9;10, Tomohiro Harada11, Dan Hooper12;13;14, David I. Kaiser15, Tanvi Karwal16, Kazunori Kohri17;18, Gordan Krnjaic12, Marek Lewicki7;19, Kaloian D. Lozanov20, Vivian Poulin21, Kuver Sinha22, Tristan L. Smith23, Tomo Takahashi24, Tommi Tenkanen25;a, James Unwin26, Ville Vaskonen7;27; a, and Scott Watson28 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA 2Department of Physics & Astronomy, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA 3Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA 4Centro de Investigaciones, Universidad Antonio Nari~no,Carrera 3 Este # 47A-15, Bogot´a,Colombia 5Department of Physics and Astronomy, Pevensey II Building, University of Sussex, BN1 9RH, UK 6Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Phillips Hall CB3255, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA 7Physics Department, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK 8Instituto de F´ısicaCorpuscular (IFIC), University of Valencia-CSIC, E-46980, Valencia, Spain 9Physics Department, University of Texas, 2515 Speedway, STOP C1600, Austin, TX 78712, USA 10Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden 11Department of Physics, Rikkyo University, Toshima, Tokyo 171-8501, Japan 12Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Theoretical Astrophysics Group, Batavia, IL 60510, USA 13University of Chicago, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, Chicago, IL 60637, USA 14University of Chicago, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Chicago, IL 60637, USA 15Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA 16Center for Particle Cosmology, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA 17Theory Center, IPNS, KEK, and Sokendai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0801, Japan 18Kavli IPMU (WPI), UTIAS, The University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Chiba 277-8583, Japan 19Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw ul. Pasteura 5, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland 20Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Karl-Schwarzschild Str. 1, Garching, 85748, Germany 21Laboratoire Univers & Particules de Montpellier (LUPM), CNRS & Universit´ede Montpellier (UMR-5299), Place Eug`eneBataillon, F-34095 Montpellier Cedex 05, France 22Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, 73019, USA 23Department of Physics and Astronomy, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081, USA 24Department of Physics, Saga University, Saga 840-8502, Japan 25Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA 26Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60607, USA 27NICPB, R¨avala 10, 10143 Tallinn, Estonia and 28Department of Physics, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13214, USA Version January 29, 2021 ABSTRACT It is commonly assumed that the energy density of the Universe was dominated by radiation between reheating after inflation and the onset of matter domination 54,000 years later. While the abundance of light elements indicates that the Universe was radiation dominated during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), there is scant evidence that the Universe was radiation dominated prior to BBN. It is therefore possible that the cosmological history was more complicated, with deviations from the standard radiation domination during the earliest epochs. Indeed, several interesting pro- posals regarding various topics such as the generation of dark matter, matter-antimatter asymmetry, arXiv:2006.16182v2 [astro-ph.CO] 27 Jan 2021 gravitational waves, primordial black holes, or microhalos during a nonstandard expansion phase have been recently made. In this paper, we review various possible causes and consequences of deviations from radiation domination in the early Universe { taking place either before or after BBN { and the constraints on them, as they have been discussed in the literature during the recent years. a Corresponding author [email protected] [email protected] 2 Contents 1. Introduction 3 2. Causes of nonstandard expansion phases5 2.1. Post-inflation reheating (Authors: M. A. Amin, D. I. Kaiser & K. D. Lozanov)5 2.1.1. Single-field phenomena 5 2.1.2. Multifield phenomena 7 2.1.3. Future directions 8 2.2. Extra stages of inflation (Authors: T. Tenkanen & V. Vaskonen)8 2.2.1. Multistep inflation 9 2.2.2. Thermal inflation 9 2.3. Heavy particles and dark sectors (Authors: N. Bernal & J. Unwin) 10 2.3.1. Nonstandard cosmology from heavy particles 10 2.3.2. The transition to radiation domination 11 2.3.3. Nonstandard cosmology beyond heavy particles 12 2.4. Moduli fields (Authors: K. Sinha & S. Watson) 13 2.5. Post-BBN modifications (Authors: T. Karwal & T. L. Smith) 15 3. Consequences of nonstandard expansion phases 17 3.1. Consequences for dark matter (Authors: A. Berlin, D. Hooper & G. Krnjaic) 17 3.2. Phase transitions and baryon asymmetry (Authors: R. Allahverdi & M. Lewicki) 20 3.2.1. Phase transition dynamics 20 3.2.2. Electroweak baryogenesis 20 3.2.3. Constraints on baryogenesis from dilution by reheating 21 3.3. Consequences for models of inflation (Authors: K. Freese & T. Tenkanen) 23 3.4. Curvaton scenario (Authors: C. Byrnes & T. Takahashi) 26 3.4.1. Curvaton perturbations and local non-Gaussianity 26 3.4.2. Isocurvature perturbations and the evolution of non-Gaussianity after inflation 28 3.5. Formation of microhalos (Author: A. Erickcek) 29 3.5.1. Growth of density perturbations 29 3.5.2. Cutting off microhalo formation 30 3.5.3. The microhalo population 31 3.6. Formation of primordial black holes (Authors: T. Harada & K. Kohri) 32 3.6.1. Radiation-dominated universe 32 3.6.2. Matter-dominated universe 33 4. Constraints on nonstandard expansion phases 34 4.1. BBN and CMB constraints (Authors: M. Escudero & V. Poulin) 34 4.1.1. A brief review of standard BBN 34 4.1.2. BBN constraints on nonstandard cosmologies 35 4.1.3. Effects of nonstandard expansion rate on the CMB 37 4.1.4. Combining CMB with BAO and SN1a 38 4.1.5. Probing perturbation dynamics with CMB 39 4.2. Observational probes of microhalos (Authors: M. S. Delos & A. L. Erickcek) 40 4.2.1. Gravitational signatures 40 4.2.2. Dark matter annihilation within microhalos 41 4.2.3. The microhalo population within galaxies 42 4.3. Observational probes on primordial black holes (Authors: T. Harada & K. Kohri) 43 4.3.1. PBH evaporation and its consequences 43 4.3.2. Observational constraints on PBHs 43 4.3.3. Constraints on the power spectrum of curvature perturbation 45 4.3.4. Constraints on curvature perturbations from PBH formation during matter dominance 46 4.4. Gravitational wave backgrounds (Authors: D. G. Figueroa & M. Lewicki) 48 4.4.1. Inflation 48 4.4.2. Cosmic strings 50 4.4.3. First order phase transitions 51 5. Summary 52 3 1. INTRODUCTION More than forty years ago, Steven Weinberg famously summarized the state of early-universe cosmology in his book, The First Three Minutes [1]. Weinberg began his account by describing an early time when the Universe was filled with radiation. Since Weinberg's book first appeared, cosmologists have made enormous progress in understanding the physics of the very early Universe. Yet there remains a gap in our understanding of cosmic history { a gap that spans the first few seconds. How, during that brief time interval, did the energy density of the universe come to be dominated by relativistic particles? In other words, what set the conditions at the start of Weinberg's analysis? The earliest epoch we can confidently gain information about is inflation, an early period of accelerated expansion in the very early Universe [2,3,4,5,6,7], which makes predictions consistent with high-precision measurements of the temperature anisotropies in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)1 [10, 11, 12, 13, 14] .
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