The interactive reference to the beginning and evolution of the universe, focusing on the earliest epochs from the Big Bang to the formation of the first stars and galaxies.
Baryogenesis is the process that generated the observed imbalance between matter and antimatter in the early universe. This article explains the Sakharov conditions, leading scenarios such as electroweak baryogenesis and leptogenesis, and traces the cosmic epochs from the Planck era to recombination.
Primordial black holes are hypothetical black holes that formed in the first moments after the Big Bang, before stars and galaxies existed. They could explain dark matter and offer a unique window into the universe’s earliest epochs, from the Planck era to recombination.
The Epoch of Reionization marks the last major phase transition of the universe, when neutral hydrogen was ionized by the first stars and galaxies. Its redshift—around 6 to 10—reveals when cosmic dawn occurred and how the intergalactic medium evolved.
Baryogenesis is the hypothetical early-universe process that produced the observed imbalance between matter and antimatter. This article explains the Sakharov conditions, the cosmic epochs involved, and why this asymmetry matters for the existence of stars, galaxies, and life.
The lithium problem is a major unresolved discrepancy in cosmology: Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts three to four times more primordial lithium-7 than is observed in the oldest stars. This mismatch challenges our understanding of the early universe and may point to new physics or overlooked astrophysical processes.
From the Planck epoch to cosmic dawn, this guide traces the universe’s evolution from a hot, dense plasma to the formation of the first stars and galaxies, explaining the key epochs, the role of the cosmic microwave background, and the observations that revealed this history.
The Higgs mechanism explains how elementary particles acquire mass through interaction with the Higgs field. This field, which permeates all of space, broke symmetry in the early universe and gave rise to the masses of W and Z bosons while leaving the photon massless, a cornerstone of the Standard Model.
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) uses the primordial abundances of light elements to limit the number of neutrino species. This article explains the physics behind the constraint, the role of cosmic epochs, and the current evidence from cosmology.
Big Bang nucleosynthesis is the process that forged the universe’s first light elements—deuterium, helium-3, helium-4, and lithium-7—during the first few minutes after the Big Bang. This guide explains the epoch, its place in cosmic history, and the evidence from observations and missions such as COBE, WMAP, Planck, and JWST.
Reionization is the epoch when the first stars and galaxies ionized the neutral hydrogen that filled the early universe, transforming it from opaque to transparent. This article explores the physics, timeline, and evidence for this cosmic milestone, from the Big Bang to the present day.
