Affleck-Dine Mechanism

A powerful and efficient framework for generating the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe, arising naturally in supersymmetric theories. It utilizes scalar fields - the superpartners of quarks and leptons (the "flat directions" of the supersymmetric potential) - which can acquire large values in the early universe. As the cosmos expands and cools, these fields begin to oscillate. The presence of CP-violating terms in their potential induces a rotational motion in the complex field space, which translates directly into a net baryon number. This mechanism can produce an extraordinarily large initial asymmetry, often far more than needed, which must then be diluted by subsequent processes like electroweak sphalerons or inflationary expansion to match the tiny, observed value.

Supersymmetry posits the existence of a hypothetical twin for each known elementary particle. If the theory is correct, then during cosmic inflation, the supersymmetric partners of the known particles might have undergone CP-Violating decays that produced an excess of baryons - no supersymmetry particles have shown up in searches at the Large Hadron Collider, but they could nonetheless exist at higher energies beyond the collider's reach.