Monotonic photon cooling during pair annihilation

ID: monotonic-photon-cooling-during-pair-annihilation

Electromagnetic comoving entropy conservation gives constant. Differentiation proves the displayed relation. During equilibrium electron-positron annihilation, increases with temperature, so the absolute photon temperature still falls as space expands. The comoving temperature rises, and the asymptotic relativistic-to-pair-free entropy count heats photons relative to decoupled neutrinos by . This relative heating must not be mistaken for an absolute temperature rise along the smooth expanding history.

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