Probing Beyond Standard Model Physics Models with the Early Universe

While careful terrestrial experiments can be sensitive to many Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics models, these experiments are constrained by limitations on space, time, energy, money, and so on. On the other hand, the early universe--moments after the Big Bang--provides the hot and dense environments that are sensitive to a much broader variety of BSM models. However, the utility of these interactions are constrained by astrophysicists' ability to observe the effects, and the efficiency of thermodynamic equilibrium to erase out-of-equilibrium perturbations. In this talk, I will discuss an interesting sweet spot in the early universe, a window proximate to the weak decoupling epoch, roughly one second after the Big Bang, where out of equilibrium phenomena may both influence the dynamics of the early universe and also leave a trace that can be observed through cosmic microwave background observations, as well as observations of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the formation of large scale structure.