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Early-universe photon–photon collision probabilities for pair production and annihilation

Determine the probabilities and rates of photon–photon collisions that produce particle–antiparticle pairs, and of the reverse annihilation processes, under early-universe conditions in order to quantify the fraction of radiation converted into matter.

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Background

The paper challenges the notion that nearly all primordial radiation converted into matter, arguing that only a fraction of photon–photon interactions would result in particle–antiparticle pair production and that reverse processes would also occur.

The authors explicitly acknowledge that the relevant probabilities are unknown to them, underscoring a quantitative gap in modeling early-universe radiation–matter conversion.

References

We believe that there was a certain probability that photons could collide each other, and among all the collisions, there was a certain probability that photons could annihilate to produce particle-antiparticle pairs. Although we do not know what was the probabilities, they wear certainly not nearly 100%.

— A physical mechanism of the generation of stable positive kinetic energy systems and a qualitative explanation of the proportions of the four ingredients in the universe (2402.13263 - Wang, 9 Feb 2024) in Section VI (A qualitative explanation to the proportions of the four ingredients in the universe)