In Big Bang cosmology, reionization is the process that reionized the matter in the universe after the "dark ages", and is the second of two major phase transitions of gas in the universe. As the majority of baryonic matter is in the form of hydrogen, reionization usually refers to the reionization of hydrogen gas. The primordial helium in the universe experienced the same phase changes, but at different points in the history of the universe, and is usually referred to as helium reionization.