Related papers: Incomplete neutrino decoupling effect on big bang …
We calculate and discuss the implications of neutrino self-interactions for the physics of weak decoupling and big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the early universe. In such neutrino-sector extensions of the standard model, neutrinos may not…
In the early universe, neutrinos decouple from equilibrium with the electromagnetic plasma at a temperature which is only slightly higher than the temperature where electrons and positrons annihilate. Therefore neutrinos to some extent…
In the primordial Universe, neutrino decoupling occurs only slightly before electron-positron annihilations. This leads notably to an increased neutrino energy density compared to the standard instantaneous decoupling approximation,…
In the early universe, neutrinos are slightly coupled when electron-positron pairs annihilate transferring their entropy to photons. This process originates non-thermal distortions on the neutrino spectra which depend on neutrino flavour,…
We show that a self-consistent and coupled treatment of the weak decoupling, big bang nucleosynthesis, and photon decoupling epochs can be used to provide new insights and constraints on neutrino sector physics from high-precision…
A calculation of neutrino decoupling in the early Universe, including full Fermi-Dirac statistics and electron mass dependence in the weak reaction rates, is presented. We find that after decoupling, the electron neutrinos contribute 0.83\%…
We review the distortions of spectra of relic neutrinos due to the interactions with electrons, positrons, and neutrinos in the early universe. We solve integro-differential kinetic equations for the neutrino density matrix, including…
Neutrino physics in the early Universe is key to our understanding of later cosmological stages, such as primordial nucleosynthesis (BBN) or the formation of large-scale structures. The coming decade promises new experimental results to…
We examine the physics of the early universe when Majorana neutrinos (electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau neutrino) possess transition magnetic moments. These extra couplings beyond the usual weak interaction couplings alter the way…
Light, weakly-coupled dark sectors may be naturally decoupled in the early universe and enter equilibrium with the Standard Model bath during the epoch of primordial nucleosynthesis. The equilibration and eventual decoupling of dark sector…
Around one second after the big bang, neutrino decoupling and $e^+$-$e^-$ annihilation distort the Fermi-Dirac spectrum of neutrino energies. Assuming neutrinos have masses and can mix, we compute the distortions using nonequilibrium…
Dissipative effects during neutrino decoupling in the early universe create a small backreaction on the Hubble rate, and lead to a small rise in temperature and entropy. We use a simplified thermo-hydrodynamic model, which provides a causal…
We consider the cosmological effects of sterile neutrinos with the masses of $150- 450$ MeV. The decay of sterile neutrinos changes the thermal history of the Universe and affects the energy density of radiation at the recombination and the…
We reanalyze the cosmological constraints on the existence of a net universal lepton asymmetry and neutrino degeneracy. We show that neutrinos can begin to decouple at higher temperatures than previous estimates due to several corrections…
We revisit the decoupling of neutrinos in the early universe with flavour oscillations. We rederive the quantum kinetic equations which determine the neutrino evolution based on a BBGKY-like hierarchy, and include for the first time the…
Ordinary-sterile neutrino oscillations can generate significant neutrino asymmetry in the early Universe. In this paper we extend this work by computing the evolution of neutrino asymmetries and light element abundances during the Big Bang…
We study the effects of dark-matter annihilation during the epoch of big-bang nucleosynthesis on the primordial abundances of light elements. We improve the calculation of the light-element abundances by taking into account the effects of…
In this paper we consider the effects on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) of the hadronic decay of a long-lived massive particle. If high-energy hadrons are emitted near the BBN epoch ($t \sim 10^{-2}$ -- $10^2 \sec$), they extraordinarily…
Neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) with electrons, predicted in many extended theoretical models of particle physics, are known to alter the picture of neutrino decoupling from the cosmic plasma. We update previous analyses of…
We re-investigate the evolution of the strongly degenerate neutrinos in the early universe. With the larger degeneracy, the neutrino number freezes at higher temperatures because the neutrino annihilation rate decreases. We consider very…