English

BBN constraints on MeV-scale dark sectors. Part I. Sterile decays

High Energy Physics - Phenomenology 2018-02-28 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Abstract

We study constraints from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on inert particles in a dark sector which contribute to the Hubble rate and therefore change the predictions of the primordial nuclear abundances. We pay special attention to the case of MeV-scale particles decaying into dark radiation, which are neither fully relativistic nor non-relativistic during all temperatures relevant to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. As an application we discuss the implications of our general results for models of self-interacting dark matter with light mediators.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1712.03972,
  title  = {BBN constraints on MeV-scale dark sectors. Part I. Sterile decays},
  author = {Marco Hufnagel and Kai Schmidt-Hoberg and Sebastian Wild},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1712.03972},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

25 pages, 9 figures