Related papers: A robust upper limit on N_eff from BBN, circa 2011
We discuss a constraint on the scale $\Lambda_{\rm NC}$ of noncommutative (NC) gauge field theory arising from consideration of the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) of light elements. The propagation of neutrinos in the NC background…
Short-baseline neutrino anomalies suggest the existence of low-mass ( m \sim O(1)~eV) sterile neutrinos \nu_s. These would be efficiently produced in the early universe by oscillations with active neutrino species, leading to a thermal…
We study primordial nucleosynthesis abundance yields for assumed ranges of cosmological lepton numbers, sterile neutrino mass-squared differences and active-sterile vacuum mixing angles. We fix the baryon-to-photon ratio at the value…
A new observation of D in a primordial gas cloud, made using the high resolution spectrograph at the Keck telescope, indicates an abundance $ D/H =(1.9-2.5) \times 10^{-4}$ \cite{SCHR}. Since deuterium is destroyed by stars, and the…
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…
New results, namely the independent determination of the deuterium abundance in several quasar absorption systems, and the complementary determination of the cosmological baryon density by observations of anisotropies in the cosmic…
We show that the non-integer effective number of neutrinos $N^{\mathrm{eff}}_\nu$ can be understood as an effect of lepton $L$ asymmetry in the early Universe carried by the Dirac neutrino cosmic background. We show that…
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…
We consider relatively heavy neutrinos $\nu_H$, mostly contributing to a sterile state $\nu_s$, with mass in the range 10 MeV $\lesssim m_s \lesssim m_{\pi} \sim 135$ MeV, which are thermally produced in the early universe in collisional…
(abridged) In the presence of a light WIMP (mass m_chi < 30 MeV), there are degeneracies among the WIMP's nature, its couplings to standard model particles, its mass, and the number of equivalent (additional) neutrinos, Delta N_nu. These…
We investigate the observational constraints on the cosmic neutrino background (CNB) given by the extended $\Lambda$CDM scenario ($\Lambda$CDM $+ N_{\rm eff} + \sum m_{\nu} + c^2_{\rm eff} + c^2_{\rm vis} + \xi_{\nu}$) using the latest…
To place meaningful constraints on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis models, the primordial helium abundance determination is crucial. Low-metallicity HII regions have been used to estimate it since their statistical uncertainties are relatively…
A new evaluation of the constraint on the number of light neutrino species (N_nu) from big bang nucleosynthesis suggests a discrepancy between the predicted light element abundances and those inferred from observations, unless the inferred…
We investigate the impact of a nonstandard electron mass $m_e$ on early-Universe thermal history, focusing on neutrino decoupling and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). In the standard cosmology, neutrino--electron interactions keep neutrinos…
We present calculations showing that upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments will have the power to improve on current constraints on neutrino masses and provide new limits on neutrino degeneracy parameters. The latter could…
We report the results on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) based on an updated code, with accuracy of the order of 0.1% on He4 abundance, compared with the predictions of other recent similar analysis. We discuss the compatibility of the…
Although neutrinos are probably the most abundant particles of the universe their mass is not yet known. Oscillation experiments have proven that at least one of the neutrino mass states has m_{i}>0.05 eV while various interpretations of…
We present results from photoionization models of low-metallicity HII regions. These nebulae form the basis for measuring the primordial helium abundance. Our models show that the helium ionization correction factor (ICF) can be…
The primordial lithium abundance inferred from observations of metal-poor stars is ~3 times smaller than the theoretical value in standard big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) model. We assume a simple model including a sterile neutrino nu_H with…
We explore constraints on extensions to the standard models of cosmology and particle physics which modify the early-Universe expansion rate S = H'/H (parametrized by the effective number of neutrinos N_nu). The constraints on N_nu and the…