Temperature-Dependent CPT Violation: Constraints from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
Abstract
In this study, we explore temperature-dependent CPT violation during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) through electron-positron mass asymmetries parametrized by . The scaling naturally evades stringent laboratory bounds at zero temperature while allowing for significant CPT violation at MeV scales in the early universe \cite{ParticleDataGroup:2024cfk}. Using a modified version of the BBN code \faGithub \href{https://github.com/vallima/PRyMordial}{\,\texttt{PRyMordial}} with dynamically-solved chemical potentials and appropriate finite-mass corrections, we constrain electron-positron mass differences from observed abundances of Helium-4, Deuterium, and . We find that must be greater than or approximately equal to GeV for keV-scale mass differences at BBN. All three observables show no simultaneous overlap, though pairwise combinations allow for constrained regions of parameter space. We present three toy models demonstrating how arises from field-theoretic mechanisms, including temperature-driven phase transitions. These results provide the most stringent constraints on early-universe CPT violation in this regime, probing parameter space inaccessible to laboratory experiments.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2601.06259,
title = {Temperature-Dependent CPT Violation: Constraints from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis},
author = {Gabriela Barenboim and Anne-Katherine Burns},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.06259},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
29 pages, 5 figures, updated version which was accepted to PRD