Formation and evolution of early distortions of the microwave background spectrum : a numerical study

Abstract

We present the results of an extensive numerical study on the formation and evolution of early distortions of the microwave background spectrum. The thermalization redshift, z therm , of arbitrary amounts of energy has been accurately determined. Simple formulae, yielding z therm as a function of the baryon density and of the chemical potential are given. The process of relaxation to a stationary spectrum (Bose-Einstein like) is investigated in detail ; several earlier conclusions are revised