Search results for "Big Bang nucleosynthesis"
showing 10 items of 34 documents
Primordial Nucleosynthesis, Majorons and Heavy Tau Neutrinos
1996
We determine the restrictions imposed by primordial nucleosynthesis upon a heavy tau neutrino, in the presence of nu-tau annihilations into Majorons, as expected in a wide class of particle physics models of neutrino mass. We determine the equivalent number of light neutrino species $N_{eq}$ as a function of nu-tau mass and the nu-tau-Majoron coupling $g$. We show that for theoretically plausible $g$ values $\gsim 10^{-4}$ present nucleosynthesis observations can not rule out nu-tau masses in the MeV range. Moreover, these models give $N_{eq} \leq 3$ in the nu-tau mass region 1-10 MeV, for very reasonable values of $g \geq 3 \times 10^{-4}$. The evasion of the cosmological limits brings new…
Unstable massive tau-neutrinos and primordial nucleosynthesis
1998
The impact of unstable Majorana tau neutrinos on primordial nucleosynthesis is considered. The mass and lifetime of nu_tau are taken in the intervals 0.1-20 MeV and 0.001-400 sec respectively. The studied decay modes are nu_tau -> nu_mu + phi and nu_tau -> nu_e + phi, where phi is a massless (or light) scalar. Integro-differential kinetic equations are solved numerically without any simplifying assumptions. Our results deviate rather strongly from earlier calculations. Depending on mass, lifetime, and decay channels of the nu_tau, the number of effective neutrino species (found from He4), in addition to the 3 standard ones, varies from -2 to +2.5. The abundances of H2 and Li7 are also…
Sterile neutrino models and nonminimal cosmologies
2012
Cosmological measurements are affected by the energy density of massive neutrinos. We extend here a recent analysis of current cosmological data to nonminimal cosmologies. Several possible scenarios are examined: a constant $w\ensuremath{\ne}\ensuremath{-}1$ dark energy equation of state, a nonflat universe, a time-varying dark energy component and coupled dark matter-dark energy universes or modified gravity scenarios. When considering cosmological data only, ($3+2$) massive neutrino models with $\ensuremath{\sim}0.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$ sterile species are allowed at 95% confidence level. This scenario has been shown to reconcile reactor, LSND and MiniBooNE positive signals with nu…
Constraints on massive sterile neutrino species from current and future cosmological data
2011
Sterile massive neutrinos are a natural extension of the Standard Model of elementary particles. The energy density of the extra sterile massive states affects cosmological measurements in an analogous way to that of active neutrino species. We perform here an analysis of current cosmological data and derive bounds on the masses of the active and the sterile neutrino states as well as on the number of sterile states. The so-called (3+2) models with three sub-eV active massive neutrinos plus two sub-eV massive sterile species is well within the 95% CL allowed regions when considering cosmological data only. If the two extra sterile states have thermal abundances at decoupling, Big Bang Nucle…
Nucleosynthesis constraints on active-sterile neutrino conversions in the early universe with random magnetic field
1994
We consider active-sterile neutrino conversions in the early universe hot plasma in the presence of a random magnetic field generated at the electroweak phase transition. Within a random field domain the magnetization asymmetry of the lepton antilepton plasma produced by a uniform constant magnetic field is huge in contrast to their small density asymmetry, leading to a drastic change in the active-sterile conversion rates. Assuming that the random field provides the seed for the galactic field one can estimate the restrictions from primordial nucleosynthesis. Requiring that the extra sterile \neu does not enter in equilibrium with the active ones before nucleosynthesis we find limits of th…
Measurement of the H2(p,γ)He3 S factor at 265–1094 keV
2021
Recent astronomical data have provided the primordial deuterium abundance with percent precision. As a result, big bang nucleosynthesis may provide a constraint on the universal baryon to photon ratio that is as precise as, but independent from, analyses of the cosmic microwave background. However, such a constraint requires that the nuclear reaction rates governing the production and destruction of primordial deuterium are sufficiently well known. Here, a new measurement of the $^{2}\mathrm{H}{(p,\ensuremath{\gamma})}^{3}\mathrm{He}$ cross-section is reported. This nuclear reaction dominates the error on the predicted big bang deuterium abundance. A proton beam of 400--1650 keV beam energy…
Resurrection of large lepton number asymmetries from neutrino flavor oscillations
2016
We numerically solve the evolution equations of neutrino three-flavor density matrices, and show that, even if neutrino oscillations mix neutrino flavors, large lepton number asymmetries are still allowed in certain limits by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN).
New Methods of Scalar Dark Matter Detection
2017
In this chapter, I consider new mechanisms for the induction of a cosmological evolution of the fundamental constants (such as the electromagnetic fine-structure constant \(\alpha \) and the particle masses) by dark matter. By investigating the effects of “slow drifts” and oscillating variations of the fundamental constants due to dark matter in astrophysical phenomena, including Big Bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background radiation measurements, and laboratory clock-comparison experiments, I derive new limits on certain interactions of dark matter with ordinary matter that improve on previous limits by up to 15 orders of magnitude, as well as the first ever limits on several o…
A CMB search for the neutrino mass mechanism and its relation to the Hubble tension
2020
AbstractThe majoron, a pseudo-Goldstone boson arising from the spontaneous breaking of global lepton number, is a generic feature of many models intended to explain the origin of the small neutrino masses. In this work, we investigate potential imprints in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) arising from massive majorons, should they thermalize with neutrinos after Big Bang Nucleosynthesis via inverse neutrino decays. We show that measurements of the CMB are currently sensitive to neutrino-majoron couplings as small as $$\lambda \sim 10^{-13}$$λ∼10-13, which if interpreted in the context of the type-I seesaw mechanism correspond to a lepton number symmetry breaking scale $$v_L \sim {\math…
Relic density of neutrinos with primordial asymmetries.
2008
We study flavor oscillations in the early Universe, assuming primordial neutrino-antineutrino asymmetries. Including collisions and pair processes in the kinetic equations, we not only estimate the degree of flavor equilibration, but for the first time also kinetic equilibration among neutrinos and with the ambient plasma. Typically, the restrictive big-bang nucleosynthesis bound on the nu(e)(nu) over bar (e) asymmetry indeed applies to all flavors as claimed in the previous literature, but fine-tuned initial asymmetries always allow for a large surviving neutrino excess radiation that may show up in precision cosmological data.