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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.
Another question for astroparticle physicists is why is there so much more matter than antimatter in the universe today. Baryogenesis is the term for the hypothetical processes that produced the unequal numbers of baryons and antibaryons in the early universe, which is why the universe is made of matter today, and not antimatter.
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.
The distribution of known baryons in the universe. [14] The census of known baryons in the universe tallied to around 60% of total baryons until the resolution of the missing baryon problem. This is in distinction from composition of the entire universe which includes dark energy and dark matter of which baryonic matter composes only 5%. [19]
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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).