PHYS30392 Cosmology

Week 8 Notes

8 Non-Relativistic Particles in the Early Universe

We have reached a time t ∼ 1 s and temperature T ∼ 1 MeV, at which point neutrinos decoupled from the thermal
bath due to the weak interaction rate becoming slower than the expansion rate, i.e. ΓW  H. The only relativistic
particles remaining in the thermal bath, in significant numbers, are electrons/positrons and photons. We will now
study what happens when the electrons and positrons annihilate, as they have an important effect on the temperature
of the bath (i.e. the photons), relative to the decoupled neutrinos. We will then go on to study the behaviour of the
(non-relativistic) baryons.

8.1 Electron-positron annihilation

We know that particles and their anti-particles are removed from the thermal bath due to annihilation which happens
when T ∼ mX for a species X, i.e. the particle becomes non-relativistic and pair production becomes energetically
unfavourable. A particularly important case is when electrons and positrons annihilate, i.e. when the reverse of the
annihilation reaction
e− + e+ ↔ γ + γ, (1)
becomes increasingly less frequent (only photons in the high-energy tail of the Planck distribution with pγ > me will
be able to form an electron-positron pair). At this point, electrons/positrons transfer their energy and entropy to
the thermal bath.
Recall that neutrino decoupling happens when T ∼ 1 MeV, just before this annihilation event (T ∼ me ≈ 0.5 MeV),
so photons are the only other relativistic particles left in the bath at this point. Once neutrinos have decoupled,
their temperature continues to decrease in the same way, as T ∝ 1/a, so the neutrino temperature is the same as
the radiation temperature even though the neutrinos are no longer in thermal equilibrium. However, an interesting
change occurs due to electron/positron annihilation, that leads to the photons becoming hotter (i.e. have higher
T ) than the neutrinos. This happens because we can assume, to very good approximation, that the entropy of the
thermal bath is conserved.
It is better to work with the entropy density, which we can write for a particle species X as sX = 4ρX /(3T ). Thus,
we can use our expression for ρX to write the total entropy density of particles in the thermal bath at temperature
T as
2π 2
sbath = g∗S (T ) T 3 , (2)
45
where g∗S is the effective number of degrees of freedom in entropy for relativistic particles in the bath
X 7X
g∗S = gi + gi . (3)
8
i∈b i∈f

To calculate this temperature change, consider two times, one just before annihilation (t1 ) and one just after (t2 ).
Let us also assume that the two times are sufficiently close together (i.e. annihilation happens quickly) that we can
ignore the expansion of space during this period, so the scale factor, a = aann ≈ constant. This means the entropy
density (sbath ∝ a−3 ) will also remain constant, allowing us to write

g∗S (t1 ) T 3 (t1 ) = g∗S (t2 ) T 3 (t2 ). (4)

At t = t1 we have
7 11
×4=
g∗S (t1 ) = 2 +
, (5)
8 2
i.e. both photons and electrons/positrons contribute beforehand 1 , and at t = t2 we have

g∗S (t2 ) = 2, (6)

1 Note: we are not calculating this for all relativistic particles here so we do not include the neutrinos.

1
as only photons contribute afterwards. Thus, we deduce that the temperature of the bath must increase from t1 to
t2 as
  13
11
T (t2 ) = T (t1 ), (7)
4
in order that the entropy of the bath is conserved.
Now, since the neutrino temperature is equal to the photon temperature before annihilation at t1 , and evolves as
T ∝ 1/a, we can write the present-day Cosmic Neutrino Background (CνB) temperature as TCνB = aann T (t1 ).
Similarly, we can write the present-day photon temperature (the CMB temperature) as TCMB = aann T (t2 ) since it
is the photons, the last remaining relativistic particles in the thermal bath, that are heated by the annihilation of
electrons and positrons. This leads us to conclude that
  13
11
TCMB = TCνB . (8)
4
For TCMB = 2.725 K (0.23 meV), the present-day CνB temperature must be TCνB = 1.95 K (0.17 meV).

8.2 Neutrino and Total Radiation Density

Now we have the neutrino temperature, we can use it to estimate its density as well as the total radiation density (i.e.
from the sum of the CMB and CνB) at the present day. For now, we will assume that neutrinos are still relativistic
(i.e. have masses mν  0.17 meV). Using the above result for the temperatures and that ρ ∝ T 4 for relativistic
particles, we can write the neutrino density in terms of the photon density as
 4/3
7 4
ρν = Neff ργ , (9)
8 11
where the 7/8 factor is because neutrinos are fermions (recall that gγ = gν = 2). and Neff is the effective number
of neutrino species. We might expect Neff = 3 (3 neutrino flavours) but we modify this to take into account that
neutrino decoupling is not instantaneous (so they gain some energy from the electron/positron annihilations before
fully decoupling). This leads to a slightly higher value Neff = 3.046. The total radiation density today is then
"  4/3 #
π2 4 7 4
ρr = TCMB 1 + Neff ≈ 1.69 ργ . (10)
15 8 11

Thus, the present-day value of the radiation density parameter is

π2 4
 
ρr (t0 ) 8πG
Ωr = = 1.69 T ≈ 4.2 × 10−5 h−2 , (11)
ρcr (t0 ) 15 CMB 3H02
which, as expected, is very small compared to the matter component (Ωm ≈ 0.3). The CνB has not been directly
detected yet but we have recently discovered neutrinos have mass; oscillation experiments place a lower limit on their
mass sum which means at least one flavour is non-relativistic today. Cosmological experiments also provide an upper
limit from their effect on large-scale structure.

8.3 Baryon to Photon Ratio

2 3
An important result we will need for what follows is the ratio of the number of baryons to photons, ηb ≡ nb /nγ .
Recall that the number density of photons (bosons with gγ = 2) is
2ζ(3) 3
nγ = T ,
π2
2ζ(3) 3
= TCMB (1 + z)3 , (12)
π2
2 By baryons we mean protons and neutrons.
3 Note we use the “b” subscript to refer to baryons here, not bosons.

2
where, in the second line, we use the result that T ∝ (1 + z) for radiation and normalise the temperature to the
CMB temperature at the present day.
For the baryons, we assume two things. Firstly, they have always been non-relativistic (recall they were formed when
T ∼ 150 MeV). Secondly, they are neither created or destroyed (baryon number is conserved, so their abundance
has already been frozen in). This means the number density of baryons only evolves due to the expansion of space,
nb ∝ 1/a3 , and their mass density ρb ≈ mp nb . For the latter, we normalise to the present-day density, i.e. we can
write ρb = Ωb ρcr,0 (1 + z)3 . The number density of baryons at redshift z is then

Ωb 3H02
 
ρb
nb ≈ = (1 + z)3 . (13)
mp mp 8πG

The baryon to photon ratio can therefore be written as

 2 
Ωb H02
 
3π mPl
ηb = 3 ,
16ζ(3) mp TCMB
≈ 3 × 10−8 Ωb h2 . (14)

Inserting Ωb h2 = 0.022, we get ηb = 6 × 10−10 .

Two important things to note about this result:
1. ηb is independent of redshift because the number density of photons and baryons scale with redshift in the
same way, as (1 + z)3 .
2. ηb is a very small number i.e. there are over 109 photons for every baryon in our Universe! This has some
important implications that we will discuss later.
Why baryons exist at all is a very interesting question (and, unfortunately, beyond the scope of this course). One
suggestion is there must have been an excess of quarks over anti-quarks when protons and neutrons formed. A
process where this asymmetry is created dynamically in the early universe is known as baryogenesis; such models
also attempt to explain why this excess, and consequently the above baryon-to-photon ratio, is very small.

8.4 Non-relativistic Transition

We will now consider particles that have become non-relativistic but remain in thermal equilibrium, i.e. they have not
yet frozen out/decoupled and are interacting frequently with other particles in the thermal bath. This is particularly
important for processes involving protons and neutrons which we will study below.
We now write the energy of particle species X as
 12
p2
q 
E= p2 + m2X = mX 1+ 2 . (15)
mX

We define the condition for particle species X (mass mX ) becoming non-relativistic as when the temperature T = mX
(recall that T is decreasing as T ∝ 1/a ∝ 1+z). As the temperature drops further, the (now) non-relativistic particles
will have an energy dominated by their rest-mass (i.e. p  mX ) and thus we can approximate their energy as

p2
E ≈ mX + , (16)
2mX
after applying the Binomial approximation (1 + x)n ≈ 1 + nx for x  1 to Equation 15. Let us also assume that the
chemical potential, µX , is sufficiently large compared with T that we cannot ignore it in general (but small enough
compared with the rest mass, µX  mX , that we have E − µX  T ). This allows us to write
   −1  
E − µX µX − E
exp ±1 ≈ exp . (17)
T T

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The number density of particles can then be approximated as
Z ∞  
gX 2 µX − E
nX ≈ p exp dp
2π 2 0 T
Z ∞
µX − mX − p2 /(2mX )
 
gX 2
≈ p exp dp
2π 2 0 T
Z ∞
p2
  
gX µX − mX 2
= exp p exp − dp.
2π 2 T 0 2mX T
(18)

You may recognise the function of momentum as the classical Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution (note that it does not
matter whether particles are fermions or bosons). Finally, using the standard integral
Z ∞ √
√ −x π
x e dx = , (19)
0 2
we arrive at   23  
mX T µX − mX
nX = gX exp . (20)
2π T
Note the energy density of non-relativistic particles is just ρX = mX nX . Both the energy and number density decays
exponentially as the universe expands (decreasing temperature); we say that non-relativistic particles in thermal
equilibrium are Boltzmann suppressed. In contrast, recall that the energy and number density of relativistic particles
scale ∝ T 4 and ∝ T 3 respectively. This is why the thermal bath is dominated by relativistic particles.

8.5 Neutrons and Protons in the Early Universe

Following electron/positron annihilation, the next key process in the universe to occur is the formation of the
light elements, i.e. the aggregation of baryons (protons and neutrons) into nuclei. This is known as Big Bang
Nucleosynthesis (BBN). Before we discuss BBN (in particular, the formation of Deuterium and 4 He) we first need
to understand how the relative abundances of protons and neutrons evolve beforehand.
Recall that baryons form from quarks at T ∼ 150 MeV. Initially, neutrons and protons are non-relativistic but
are in equilibrium and frequently convert to one another through weak interactions such as β-decay and inverse
β-decay

n + νe ↔ p + + e− ,
n + e+ ↔ p+ + ν̄e . (21)

We are also assuming these reactions are in (local) chemical equilibrium, allowing us to write µn ≈ µp , since
µe ≈ µν ≈ 0 at this point.
The equilibrium abundance ratio of neutrons to protons is therefore determined using Equation 20 as
  32  
nn mn Q
R= = exp − , (22)
np mp T

where Q = mn − mp = 1.29 MeV is the neutron-proton mass difference, and we have used gn = gp = 2 and µn = µp .
Now, since mn /mp ≈ 1.002, we find that the ratio R < 1 and decreases with increasing time, due to the neutron being
slightly more massive than the proton (Q > 0) and T decreasing with increasing time in the exponential term.
This continues until T ∼ 1 MeV when weak interactions effectively stop, i.e. ΓW = H, as we saw with neutrinos. This
leads to the relative abundance of neutrons and protons freezing out. A detailed calculation suggests a freeze-out
temperature of Tnp ≈ 0.8 MeV ≈ 9 × 109 K and tnp ≈ 1 s. The ratio at this temperature is
 
Q
R(tnp ) ≈ exp − ≈ 0.2. (23)
Tnp

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In other words, there are around 5 times as many protons as there are neutrons when they freeze out.
This result already goes a long way to explain why there is a lot more Hydrogen than Helium in the Universe, given
the latter requires two neutrons along with two protons per nucleus. However, the relative abundance of neutrons
drops even further before BBN starts. This is because free neutrons are radioactively unstable and undergo β-decay
with a half-life τn ≈ 890 s (≈ 15 mins) to a (less massive) proton

n → p + e− + ν̄e . (24)

We can write the number densities due to radioactive decay after freeze-out (t > tnp ) as
 
(t − tnp ) N = N_o e^(-t/T)
nn (t > tnp ) = nn (tnp ) exp −
τn
  
(t − tnp )
np (t > tnp ) = np (tnp ) + nn (tnp ) 1 − exp − ,
τn
(25)

and hence the abundance ratio as

R(tnp ) e−(t−tnp )/τn
R(t > tnp ) =
. (26)
1 + R(tnp ) 1 − e−(t−tnp )/τn

From this, you may ask why there are any neutrons left in the universe at all (e.g. R ≈ 0.003 after only 1 hour).
The reason, as we will learn, is that proton-neutron fusion can take place to form Deuterium, the start of BBN at
around 3 mins or so, when R ≈ 0.15.