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https://doi.org/10.1103/physre...
Article . 1985 . Peer-reviewed
License: APS Licenses for Journal Article Re-use
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Decaying particles do not ‘‘heat up’’ the Universe

Authors: , Scherrer; , Turner;

Decaying particles do not ‘‘heat up’’ the Universe

Abstract

It is usually assumed that a massive relic species, which comes to dominate the mass density of the Universe and later decays, ``heats up'' the Universe when the age of the Universe \ensuremath{\simeq} its lifetime. We show that if its decay follows the usual exponential decay law, then the Universe is never reheated, rather it just cools more slowly. We calculate the evolution of the temperature and entropy, and find that to within numerical factors of order unity, the usual estimates for the entropy increase are correct. Our results have implications for primordial nucleosynthesis in scenarios where a massive relic with lifetime \ensuremath{\simeq} ${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2}$--${10}^{3}$ sec is present, and for baryogenesis in the new inflationary Universe scenario.

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
185
Top 1%
Top 1%
Top 10%