Mixing of blackbodies: entropy production and dissipation of sound waves in the early Universe

Abstract

Mixing of blackbodies with different temperatures creates a spectral distortion which, at lowest order, is a y-type distortion, indistinguishable from the thermal y-type distortion produced by the scattering of CMB photons by hot electrons residing in clusters of galaxies. This process occurs in the radiation-pressure dominated early Universe, when the primordial perturbations excite standing sound waves on entering the sound horizon. Photons from different phases of the sound waves, having different temperatures, diffuse through the electron-baryon plasma and mix together. This diffusion, with the length defined by Thomson scattering, dissipates sound waves and creates spectral distortions in the CMB. Of the total dissipated energy, 2/3 raises the average temperature of the blackbody part of spectrum, while 1/3 creates a distortion of y-type. It is well known that at redshifts 10^5< z< 2x10^6, comptonization rapidly transforms y-distortions into a Bose-Einstein spectrum. The chemical potential of the Bose-Einstein spectrum is again 1/3 the value we would get if all the dissipated energy was injected into a blackbody spectrum but no extra photons were added. We study the mixing of blackbody spectra, emphasizing the thermodynamic point of view, and identifying spectral distortions with entropy creation. This allows us to obtain the main results connected with the dissipation of sound waves in the early Universe in a very simple way. We also show that mixing of blackbodies in general, and dissipation of sound waves in particular, leads to creation of entropy.