Baryogenesis at the Electroweak Scale

Abstract

The realisation that the electroweak anomaly can induce significant baryon number violation at high temperature and that the standard models of particle physics and cosmology contain all the ingredients needed for baryogenesis has led to vigourous search for viable models. The conclusions so far are that the Standard Model of particle physics cannot produce baryon asymmetry of required magnitude. It has too little $CP$ violation and sphaleronic transitions wipe out any asymmetry produced if the Higgs is heavier than about 50 GeV, a range already excluded by accelerator experiments. We review the sphaleron solution, its connection to the high temperature anomalous rate and then summarise possibilities where phenomenologically testable extensions of the Standard Model may yet explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe.