Shedding Light to the Dark Sides of the Universe: Cosmology from Strong Interactions

• Other Authors: Pasechnik, Roman (Editor), Šumbera, Michal (Editor)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI - Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2022
• Subjects: Research & information: general; Physics; dynamics of phase transitions; spinodal instability; heavy-ion collisions; neutron stars; dark energy; non-Abelian gauge theory; condensate; QCD; DGLAP equations; physics beyond the standard model; tensorgluons; extended DGLAP equations; tensorgluon splitting functions; neutron star; equation of state; many-body methods of nuclear matter; neutron-skin thickness; GW170817; Weyl gravity; renormalization group; inflation; light scalar fields; axial anomaly; SU(2) Yang-Mills thermodynamics; de-percolation of axionic lumps; cosmological and galactic dark-matter densities; cosmology; particle physics; particle symmetry; stable particles; dark matter; cosmic rays; QCD in the early universe; phase transitions; hydrodynamical evolution; equation of state of super-dense matter; classical Yang-Mills fields; Dark Energy; Dark Matter; gluon condensate; effective Yang-Mills action; cosmic inflation; n/a
• Online Access: DOAB: download the publication; DOAB: description of the publication

The theory of quantum chromo dynamics (QCD), an organic part of the standard model (SM) of particle physics, has been validated by many theoretical and experimental studies. The strongly coupled QCD dynamics controls colored particles' (quarks and gluons) collective motion at large spacetime separations and the formation of colorless composite states (hadrons). While QCD theory and the related phenomenology aspects are being intensively studied in laboratory measurements, the possible connections of this important layer of knowledge to cosmology remain rather vague and largely unexplored. No doubt, the physical vacuum has been transformed many times throughout the lifetime of the universe and has affected its history through a sequence of events, such as the cosmic inflation, phase transitions, and the dark-energy-dominated expansion. Strong interactions could play an important role in some of these cosmological events. In particular, the emergence of a new state of matter called the quark-gluon plasma at the LHC is often suggested to provide an important source of empirical knowledge to what the universe looked like in the first few moments after the Big Bang. This Special Issue aims at creating an overview of the recent progress in these directions by focusing on the novel implications of quantum chromo, or more generally, Yang-Mills (YM) dynamics, to the physics of the early universe and critical phenomena in cosmology.