Gamma-Ray Bursts and Dark Matter - a joint origin?

Abstract

A scenario is presented where large quark-gluon plasma (QGP) objects escaping the quark-hadron transition in the early Universe account for the baryonic dark matter as well as act as the sources for gamma-ray bursts. Two basic assumptions are made. Firstly, we assume that a QGP consisting of u,d and s quarks is the absolute ground state of QCD and secondly, that the quark-hadron transition in the early Universe was of first order. Both particle physics and astrophysics constraints are discussed, mainly from an observational point of view.

Comments: 9 pages, 2 figures, talk given at the 36th International School of Subnuclear Physics, Erice, 29 Aug - 7 Sep 1998. To appear in the proceedings Minor revision, correcting typographical errors