Speaker
Description
We compute the full cosmic trajectories of the early Universe across the QCD phase diagram as the plasma cools from $T\simeq500\,$MeV to $30\,$MeV, assuming $\beta$-equilibrated matter.
The trajectories are obtained by simultaneously solving baryon-number, electric-charge, and lepton-asymmetry conservation, closed by a state-of-the-art lattice-QCD equation of state: a fourth-order Taylor expansion in the chemical potentials that merges the latest $(2\!+\!1)$-flavor susceptibilities with charm-quark contributions, thus delivering a consistent $(2\!+\!1\!+\!1)$-flavor equation of state.
Results are compared with an ideal quark-gluon plasma and with a hadron-resonance gas to highlight interaction effects.
Two cases of primordial lepton asymmetries are analyzed: a symmetric configuration $(\ell_e=\ell_\mu=\ell_\tau=\ell/3)$ and an asymmetric one $(\ell_e=0,\;\ell_\mu=-\ell_\tau)$.
Increasing $|\ell|$ systematically drives the trajectories toward larger values of $\mu_B$ and more negative $\mu_Q$. In the asymmetric case, a non-monotonic ``bounce’’ develops when the $\tau$ chemical potential reaches $m_\tau$, generating a maximum in $\mu_B(T)$, the position of which depends on $\ell_\tau$. Assuming a modest $\mu_{Q}$-dependence of the lattice-QCD critical end point estimates (obtained at $\mu_{Q} = 0$), the trajectories for all lepton asymmetries explored ($|\ell|\lesssim 0.1$) lie to their left, implying that in a standard cosmological scenario the QCD transition is almost certainly a smooth crossover. Nevertheless, we estimate the magnitude of baryon and lepton asymmetries needed to obtain a cosmic trajectory closer to the QCD critical point, providing inputs for future studies of the strong-interaction epoch.