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In physical cosmology, the baryon asymmetry problem, also known as the matter asymmetry problem or the matter–antimatter asymmetry problem, [1] [2] is the observed imbalance in baryonic matter (the type of matter experienced in everyday life) and antibaryonic matter in the observable universe.
This imbalance has to be exceptionally small, on the order of 1 in every 1 630 000 000 (≈ 2 × 10 9) particles a small fraction of a second after the Big Bang. [4] After most of the matter and antimatter was annihilated, what remained was all the baryonic matter in the current universe, along with a much greater number of bosons.
All the particles that make up the matter around us, such electrons and protons, have antimatter versions which are nearly identical, but with mirrored properties such as the opposite electric charge.
The local geometry of the universe is determined by whether the relative density Ω is less than, equal to or greater than 1. From top to bottom: a spherical universe with greater than critical density (Ω>1, k>0); a hyperbolic, underdense universe (Ω<1, k<0); and a flat universe with exactly the critical density (Ω=1, k=0).
Under current theory, the Big Bang explosion that initiated the universe should have produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter. This, however, does not seem to be the case.
[34] [35] It became known in the 1960s that the density of matter in the Universe was comparable to the critical density necessary for a flat universe (that is, a universe whose large scale geometry is the usual Euclidean geometry, rather than a non-Euclidean hyperbolic or spherical geometry).
[1] The lepton and baryon asymmetries affect the much better understood Big Bang nucleosynthesis at later times, during which light atomic nuclei began to form. Successful synthesis of the light elements requires that there be an imbalance in the number of baryons and antibaryons to one part in a billion when the universe is a few minutes old. [2]
The Big Crunch is a hypothetical scenario for the ultimate fate of the universe, in which the expansion of the universe eventually reverses and the universe recollapses, ultimately causing the cosmic scale factor to reach absolute zero, an event potentially followed by a reformation of the universe starting with another Big Bang.