Related papers: Primordial Nucleosynthesis: A Cosmological Probe
Big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) describes the production of the lightest nuclides via a dynamic interplay among the four fundamental forces during the first seconds of cosmic time. We briefly overview the essentials of this physics, and…
It is now well known that a primordial chemistry, involving light elements produced during the nucleosynthesis period, might develop during the hydrogen post-recombination era. In particular, molecular ions and primordial molecules such as…
The standard cosmological model predicts the existence of a cosmic neutrino background with a present density of about 110 cm^{-3} per flavour, which affects big-bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave background anisotropies, and the…
The observational evidence for the acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete, if not incorrect, and that new physics is out there, waiting to be discovered.…
The $\Lambda$-CDM model of cosmology has done much to clarify our picture of the early universe. However, there are still some questions that $\Lambda$-CDM does not necessarily answer; questions such as what is the fundamental nature of…
During the past two decades, cosmologists turned to particle physics in order to explore the physics of the very early Universe. The main link between the physics of the smallest and largest structures in the Universe is the idea of…
Standard simple assumptions are usually made about the pre-Big Bang Nucleosynthesis epoch, from which we do not have observations. Modifying these assumptions, the predicted density of relic particles such as neutralinos and sterile…
This article gives a brief qualitative description of the possible evolution of the early Universe between the end of an inflationary epoch and the end of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. After a general introduction, establishing the minimum…
This review delves into the pivotal primordial stage of the universe, a period that holds the key to understanding its current state. To fully grasp this epoch, it is essential to consider three fundamental domains of physics: gravity,…
The nature of the first generation of stars in the Universe remains largely unknown. Observations imply the existence of massive primordial stars early in the history of the universe, and the standard theory for the growth of cosmic…
(abridged) Both fundamental constants that describe the laws of physics and cosmological parameters that determine the cosmic properties must fall within a range of values in order for the universe to develop astrophysical structures and…
The physical models of a successful unified theory about the Universe must operate in different phase of matter evolution and different fields of physics. The attempts to build such wide range theory as a bunch of theories developed for…
Recently we presented a simple method for determining the correlated uncertainties of the light element abundances expected from big bang nucleosynthesis, which avoids the need for lengthy Monte Carlo simulations. We now extend this…
The success of primordial nucleosynthesis has been limited by the long-standing Lithium problem. We use a self-consistent perturbative analysis of the effects of relevant theoretical parameters on primordial nucleosynthesis, including…
To constrain the universe before recombination (380000 years after the Big Bang), we mostly rely on the measurements of the primordial abundances that indicate the first insight into the thermal history of the universe. The first production…
We report the results of a recent likelihood analysis combining the primordial nucleosynthesis and the BOOMERanG and MAXIMA-1 data on cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies. We discuss the possible implications for relic…
It is usually assumed that relic neutrinos possess a Fermi-Dirac distribution, acquired during thermal equilibrium in the Early Universe. However, various mechanisms could introduce strong distortions in this distribution. We perform a…
The hot dense environment of the early universe is known to have produced large numbers of baryons, photons, and neutrinos. These extreme conditions may have also produced other long-lived species, including new light particles (such as…
I present a brief review on the determination of the primordial helium abundance by unit mass, Yp. I discuss the importance of the primordial helium abundance in: (a) cosmology, (b) testing the standard big bang nucleosynthesis, (c)…
Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new, accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments. Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate of…