Related papers: From primordial $^4$He abundance to the Higgs fiel…
Studies of limits on active-sterile neutrino mixing derived from big bang nucleosynthesis considerations are extended to consider the dependance of these constraints on the primordial deuterium abundance. This study is motivated by recent…
The empirical, possible small variation downward by about 10^-5, of the ratio of the proton mass to the electron mass, over a characteristic time interval estimated here to be about a billion years, is related to the decrease with time of a…
This paper derives an upper limit on the density $\rho_{\scriptstyle\Lambda}$ of dark energy based on the requirement that cosmological structure forms before being frozen out by the eventual acceleration of the universe. By allowing for…
Motivated by the recent measurement of the primeval abundance of deuterium, we re-examine the nuclear inputs to big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). Using Monte-Carlo realization of the nuclear cross-section data to directly estimate the…
We extend the model-independent likelihood analysis of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) based on He4 and Li7 to allow for numbers of degrees of freedom which differ from the standard model value characterized by $N_\nu = 3$. We use the…
Improved upper bounds are presented on the coupling $|U_{e4}|^2$ of an electron to a sterile neutrino $\nu_4$ from analyses of data on nuclear and particle decays, including superallowed nuclear beta decays, the ratios…
The annihilation of new dark matter candidates with masses $m_X$ in the MeV range may account for the galactic positrons that are required to explain the 511 keV $\gamma$-ray flux from the galactic bulge. We study the impact of MeV-mass…
For a brief time in its early evolution the Universe was a cosmic nuclear reactor. The expansion and cooling of the Universe limited this epoch to the first few minutes, allowing time for the synthesis in astrophysically interesting…
Review of recent works devoted to the temporal and spatial variation of the fundamental constants and dependence of the fundamental constants on the gravitational potential (violation of local position invariance) is presented. We discuss…
In the light of the LHC, we revisit the implications of a fourth generation of chiral matter. We identify a specific ensemble of particle masses and mixings that are in agreement with all current experimental bounds as well as minimize the…
We introduce a new statistical method to estimate the primordial helium abundance, Y_p from observed abundances in a sample of galaxies which have experienced stellar helium enrichment. Rather than using linear regression on metal abundance…
The products of primordial nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons are relics from the early evolution of the Universe whose observations probe the standard model of cosmology and provide windows on new physics…
Standard big bang nucleosynthesis (BBNS) promises accurate predictions of the primordial abundances of deuterium, helium-3, helium-4 and lithium-7 as a function of a single parameter. Previous measurements have nearly always been…
We present a measurement of the deuterium to hydrogen ratio (D/H) in a metal-poor absorption system at redshift $z=2.504$ towards the QSO 1009+2956. We apply the new method of Burles & Tytler (1997) to robustly determine D/H in high…
We derive the leptonic neutral current in the simplest little Higgs model and compute the contribution of the model to the decay width $Z \to e^+e^-$. Using the precision electroweak data we obtain a strong lower bound $f\geq 5.6$ TeV at…
As space expands, the energy density in black holes increases relative to that of radiation, providing us with motivation to consider scenarios in which the early universe contained a significant abundance of such objects. In this study, we…
We present a review on the determination of the primordial helium abundance Yp, based on the study of hydrogen and helium recombination lines in extragalactic HII regions. We also discuss the observational determinations of the increase of…
We present a new constraint on the primordial helium abundance, $Y_\mathrm{P}$, based on Subaru observations. A major source of uncertainty in previous $Y_\mathrm{P}$ determinations is the lack of extremely metal-poor galaxies (EMPGs;…
Searches for dark matter decaying into photons constrain its lifetime to be many orders of magnitude larger than the age of the Universe. A corollary statement is that the abundance of any particle that can decay into photons over…
A detailed discussion is given of the analysis of recent data to obtain improved upper bounds on the couplings $|U_{e4}|^2$ and $|U_{\mu 4}|^2$ for a mainly sterile neutrino mass eigenstate $\nu_4$. Using the excellent agreement among…