The origin of dark matter, matter-anti-matter asymmetry, and inflation

Abstract

A rapid phase of accelerated expansion in the early universe, known as inflation, dilutes all matter except the vacuum induced quantum fluctuations. These are responsible for seeding the initial perturbations in the baryonic matter, the non-baryonic dark matter and the observed temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. To explain the universe observed today, the end of inflation must also excite a thermal bath filled with baryons, an amount of baryon asymmetry, and dark matter. We review the current understanding of inflation, dark matter, mechanisms for generating matter-anti-matter asymmetry, and the prospects for testing them at ground and space based experiments.

Comments: Draft of commissioned review article for Reviews for Modern Physics, comments welcome!