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RINGNEBULA.COM

TIMELINE OF THE UNIVERSE

Compiled by Gary D. Evans


Last Updated: April 23, 2019 8:38 AM

This is a continuing work in progress. Please feel free to offer corrections and/or suggestions.

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Time p-BB
Spatial Diam
Temp
z
Photon-E(kT)
Description

10-43s

1032K

1019GeV

Planck Time: Schwarzschild scale = horizon size. 11-dim. false vac. fluctuation seeds universe.

10-38 - 10-36s

1032K

1019GeV

Gravity splits from metastable multi-dim. non-zero energy vac. field, w/ sufficient strength to convert directly into mass. Strong force next became distinct from EW, which then split into EM and weak force particles. All particles receded from each other simultaneously; at these high temps, kT ›mc2, all particles behaved as photons. Neutrino mass (Majorana): L-Handed neutrinos collided with Higgs yielding Massive R-handed neutrinos; then decayed back into L-handed low-mass neutrinos. (With later cooling, R-handed neutrinos decayed away.)

10-36 - 10-35s

10-30cm

1028K

Inflation Begins. Electroweak Epoch after strong force splits off;

10-32s

108cm

1028K

1019GeV

Inflation ends - Between inflation’s start & before its end, the universe supercooled by ~105 then reheated. Linear dims grew by at least 1026, increasing volume by at least 1078. (This would expand an object the size of one million-millionth the diameter of a 10-15m proton to ~8cm in 10-32s.

10-30s

1012GeV

Speculation: Peccei-Quinn phase transition (if correct explanation for strong-CP prob.)

10-20 - 10-30s

›1020K

TeV range

Strong force splits from the electroweak force; Baryogensis; Possible CDM split-off. (Note: Light travel time across a proton = 10-23s.)

10-9s

1015K

1015

GeV-TeV range

Electroweak phase transition (symmetry breaking). The Higgs mechanism: previously massless weak bosons W+, W-, and Z acquire rest mass; (all Higgs interacting particles acquire rest mass.) [Click here for an intuitive explanation of chiral symmetry breaking]

10-6s

›1012K

GeV-TeV range

Quark-gluon plasma behaves as a fluid; b/anti-b asymmetry present; Neutron Threshold temp. = 10.903 x 1012K; Proton Threshold temperature =10.888 x 1012K

10-6s

›1012K

100 MeV

Quark-Antiquark pairing. Temp. fell sufficiently to allow hadron/anti-hadron binding (mostly Pi-mesons). Muon pairs at ›= 1.23 x 1012K in thermal equil; soon the dominant form of baryonic matter. [Asymmetric decay channels for strange and charm quarks yielded matter over antimatter dominance (?energy level/time?)]

10-5s

1-2x1012K

1012

150-200 MeV

QCD Phase Transition; Dark Matter freeze out. Baryon-antibaryon pair production followed by annihilations leaving 1BBP baryon excess. Quarks & gluons bind into baryons. (Axions produced, if they exist); p meson pairs produced at 1.57 x 1012K.

10-4s

1012K

1011

Annihilation of muons and pions. Hadron / anti-hadron pairs no longer produced.

2x10-2s

1011K

Mixture: ~1089 of each elementary particle + 1080P + 1080N (1:109 photons or e- or e+). Small #s of Neutrons and Protons now in equilibrium act as radiation with bT›mc2.

›2x 10-2s

3x 1010K

Equilibrium of e-, e+, photons, and neutrinos; 38%N/62%P

10-1s

‹3x 1010K

6x 109

3 MeV

Neutrino thermal equilibrium broken, i.e. decoupling. Weak force converts N to P.

1s

1010K

1+ MeV

Weak force no longer converting Neutrons to Protons // Lepton Epoch: lepton-antilepton pair production in thermal equilib.; leptons dominated ord. mass until temp fell (by 10s): pair annihil.

4s

5x109K

4x109

1.011 MeV

Radiation-Matter thermal equilibrium ending: e-/e+ annihil. = creat. (Ph. energy = 2 x 0.511MeV). 24%N : 76%P.

10s

4x109K

109

.0500 MeV

e-/e+ annihilations complete leaving 1 PPB matter remaining (from pairs originally present)

14s

3x109K

4x108

~100 KeV

Radiation › Matter Dominance Begins; Photons ‹511eV, e-/e+, ann. › creation. Reheating w/ neutrinos 8% cooler than e+/e-/photons. Du ann. = creation, i.e., bottleneck to synthesis of heavier nuclei.

  i.e., N:P now = 17%:83%

2-3mins

109K

5x108

70 KeV

Nucleosynthesis begins: D + 73%H + 27% 4He + trace 3He + trace 7Li. 109 Photons+neutrinos to 1 e- after e+/e- annihilations releasing heat with photon energy 35% › neutrinos; Free neutrons decay into Protons with N:P now 14%:86%; Deuterium bottleneck continues.

4 mins

0.8x 109K

3x 108

Deut. bottleneck end (became stable). 87% P & 13% N. N cooked into 4He, eventually = 26% by wt.

35 mins

0.3x 109K

108

› 2 KeV

Nucleosynthesis ends. Photons 40% › energy than neutrinos.

1-5 days

2x 107

2 KeV

Photons freeze out of thermal equilibrium. (Before this, interactions that changed photon #s proceeded rapidly as compared w/ expansion rate; w/ freeze out, CMB photons #s are now fixed.

› 1 year

› 9x105

Compton scattering allows for thermal equilibrium no earlier than 1 year

??????

??????

‹ 105

??????

Compton scattering ceases, decoupling matter and radiation.

40 years

4x104K

1.4x104

40eV

e- - photon collisions too weak to significantly change photon energies, only their directions. CMB spectrum unchanged (except for redshift) from this time.

10x103 years

1.2x104K

8.2x103

1.0eV

Matter (mostly dark) density = Radiation density. CDM density perturbations grew while baryonic density perturbations could not, given its radiation pressure.

260x103 years

3.1x103K

1.3x103

0.26-0.33eV

Recombination begins (thickness ~z = 900-1300, peaking at 1090 +/- 200). Dark matter perturbations continue to grow into gravitational wells.

384 x 103 years

84x106LY

3x103K

1.09x103

0.26eV

CMB-LSS: sufficiently cool to allow electrons and baryons to form neutral atoms. Free electron content dropped by 104.

2.9x103K

0.9x103

Recombination fully ends Press. down by 109; (thickness from z~900-1200 w/ peak z=1091) & +/-200K

150x106y

0.1-1.0x103K

~23

0.01-0.10eV

Dark Ages End (Jeans Mass fell ‹= 105 solar masses); first (pop3) stars & galaxies formed, reionizing the neutral atoms formed at recombination.

109y

7

Small galaxies and galactic groups form

8x109y

0.6

Dark and Baryonic matter equally dominant. Milky Way disk forms

9x109y

0.4

Dark Energy domination over Matter. Accelerated expansion begins.

13.8x109y

92x109LY

2.72K(+/-0.002)

0

0.000691eV

Now: baryonic » photon energy [109 ph x .000691eV = 691KeV to 1 nucleon = 939 MeV; neutrino background ~1.95K; Baryon# density p/mp = OB/mp*3H02/8pG = 1.1x10-5 OBh2cm-3. 400 photons/cm3; 1013 photons/s/cm2. Baryonic=4.9%; Dark=26.8%; Dark E.=68.3%