A poorly constrained parameter in the Standard Model of Cosmology is the lepton asymmetry l = \sum_f l_f=\sum_f(n_f+n_{ \nu_f})/s. Each flavour asymmetry l_f with f=e, \mu, { \tau} is the sum of the net particle density of the charged leptons n_f and their corresponding neutrinos, normalized with the entropy density s. Constraints on l_f \leq O(0.1) from BBN and CMB allow for lepton flavour asymmetries orders of magnitudes larger then the baryon asymmetry b ~ 10^{ -10}. In this article we show how such large lepton (flavour) asymmetries influence the early universe, in particular the freeze out of WIMPs and the cosmic QCD transition.
Categories: hep-ph astro-ph.CO