Baryogenesis, Dark Matter and the Maximal Temperature of the Early Universe

Abstract

Mechanisms for the generation of the matter-antimatter asymmetry and dark matter strongly depend on the reheating temperature T_R, the maximal temperature reached in the early universe. Forthcoming results from the LHC, low energy experiments, astrophysical observations and the Planck satellite will significantly constrain baryogenesis and the nature of dark matter, and thereby provide valuable information about the very early hot universe. At present, a wide range of reheating temperatures is still consistent with observations. We illustrate possible origins of matter and dark matter with four examples: moduli decay, electroweak baryogenesis, leptogenesis in the nuMSM and thermal leptogenesis. Finally, we discuss the connection between baryogenesis, dark matter and inflation in the context of supersymmetric spontaneous B-L breaking.