Particle physics in cosmology

Particle physics, which deals with the interactions of elementary particles at high energies, is an important component of cosmological models of the early universe, when the universe was dominated by radiation and its average energy density was very high. Because of this, pair production, scattering processes and decay of unstable particles are important in cosmology, and the interface between particle physics and cosmology is sometimes referred to as particle cosmology.

As a thumb rule, a scattering or a decay process is cosmologically important in a certain cosmological epoch if its relevant time scale is smaller or even to the time scale of the universe expansion, which is $\frac{1}{H}$ with $H$ being the Hubble constant at that time. This is roughly equal to the age of the universe at that time.

Cosmological observations of phenomena such as the cosmic microwave background and the cosmic abundance of elements, together with the predictions of the Standard Model of particle physics, place constraints on the conditions of the early universe. The success of the Standard Model at explaining these observations provides a confirmation of its validity outside of laboratory conditions. In addition, phenomena extrapolated from cosmological observations, such as dark matter and CP-violation, suggest a need for physics that goes beyond the Standard Model.

Further reading

• Allday, Jonathan (2002). Quarks, Leptons and the Big Bang (Second ed.). ISBN 978-0-7503-0806-9.
• Bergström, Lars & Goobar, Ariel (2004); Cosmology and Particle Astrophysics, 2nd ed. Springer Verlag. ISBN 3-540-43128-4.
• Branco, G. C., Shafi, Q., & Silva-Marcos, J. I. (2001). Recent developments in particle physics and cosmology. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic. ISBN 0-7923-7181-X
• Collins, P. D. B. (2007). Particle physics and cosmology. New York: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-12071-5
• Kazakov, D. I., & Smadja, G. (2005). Particle physics and cosmology the interface. NATO science series, v. 188. Dordecht: Springer. ISBN 1-4020-3161-0
• "Science and technology - Cosmology and particle physics - What can the matter B?". The Economist (379, number 8474): 94. 2006. OCLC 102695447.