Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis verifies classical Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution
Abstract
We provide the most stringent constraint to date on possible deviations from the usually-assumed Maxwell-Boltzmann (MB) velocity distribution for nuclei in the Big-Bang plasma. The impact of non-extensive Tsallis statistics on thermonuclear reaction rates involved in standard models of Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) has been investigated. We find that the non-extensive parameter may deviate by, at most, =610 from unity for BBN predictions to be consistent with observed primordial abundances; =1 represents the classical Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics. This constraint arises primarily from the {\em super}sensitivity of endothermic rates on the value of , which is found for the first time. As such, the implications of non-extensive statistics in other astrophysical environments should be explored. This may offer new insight into the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1408.4422,
title = {Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis verifies classical Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution},
author = {S. Q. Hou and J. J. He and A. Parikh and K. Daid and C. Bertulani},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.4422},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
5 pages, 3 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1406.4583