Scientists Uncover New Insights into Early Universe Matter Formation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Researchers have determined that much of the matter around us formed later than previously thought, providing a deeper understanding of the universe's early conditions.
The early universe was 250,000 times hotter than the core of our sun, far too hot to form protons and neutrons that make up everyday matter.
Scientists recreate these early universe conditions in particle accelerators by smashing atoms together at nearly the speed of light.
Measuring the resulting shower of particles helps scientists understand how matter formed.
Particles can form in various ways: from the original soup of quarks and gluons or from later reactions.
These later reactions began 0.000001 seconds after the Big Bang, when composite particles made of quarks began to interact with each other.
A new calculation determined that up to 70% of some measured particles originate from these later reactions, not from the early universe conditions.
The research is published in the journal Physics Letters B.
This finding enhances scientific understanding of the origins of matter and helps identify how much matter formed in the first few fractions of a second after the Big Bang versus later reactions as the universe expanded.
The result implies that large amounts of matter around us formed later than expected.
To understand collider experiment results, scientists must discount particles formed in later reactions.
Only those formed in the subatomic soup reveal the early universe conditions.
This new calculation shows that the number of particles formed in reactions is much higher than expected.
In the 1990s, physicists realized that certain particles form in significant numbers from later reactions following the universe's initial formation phase.
Particles called D mesons can interact to form a rare particle, charmonium.
Scientists lacked consensus on the significance of this effect.
Since charmonium is rare, it is difficult to measure.
However, recent experiments provide data on how many charmonium and D mesons colliders produce.
Physicists from Yale University and Duke University used the new data to calculate the strength of this effect, finding it much more significant than expected.
More than 70% of charmonium measured could be formed in reactions.
As the hot soup of subatomic particles cools, it expands in a ball of fire.
This all happens in less than one hundredth of the time it takes for light to cross an atom.
Since this is so fast, scientists are unsure exactly how the fireball expands.
The new calculation shows that scientists do not absolutely need to know the details of this expansion.
The collisions produce a significant amount of charmonium regardless.
The new result brings scientists one step closer to understanding the origins of matter.