Related papers: Limits on Non-Relativistic Matter During Big-Bang …
We re-examine the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) bounds on the mixing of neutrinos with sterile species. These bounds depend on the assumption that the relic neutrino asymmetry $L_{\nu}$ is very small. We show that for $L_{\nu}$ large…
We have performed a likelihood analysis of the recent data on the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) anisotropy taken by the Boomerang experiment. We find that this data places a strong upper bound on the radiation density present…
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis can provide, via constraints on the expansion rate at that time, limits on possible variations in Newton's Constant, $G$. The original analyses were performed before an independent measurement of the…
Comparing Big Bang Nucleosynthesis predictions with the light element abundances inferred from observational data, we can obtain the strong constraints on some neutrino properties, e.g. number of neutrino species, mass, lifetime. Recently…
In this paper, we revisit in detail the effects of primordial magnetic fields on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) including a discussion of the magnetic field geometry and the anomalous magnetic moment. The presence of magnetic fields affects…
We show that Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) significantly constrains axion-like dark matter. The axion acts like an oscillating QCD $\theta$ angle that redshifts in the early universe, increasing the neutron-proton mass difference at…
We discuss the impact of charged massive particle big bang nucleosynthesis(CBBN) to explore the nature of the reheating of the Universe in the case that a new extremely long-lived charged massive particle(CHAMP) exists. If the mass of the…
In this paper we show that the baryon-to-photon ratio $\eta$ is in general not conserved before decoupling in non-minimally coupled theories of gravity. We use big-bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background limits on the…
We examine in detail how BBN theory is constrained, and what predictions it can make, when using only the most model-independent observational constraints. We avoid the uncertainties and model-dependencies that necessarily arise when solar…
We study constraints from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis on inert particles in a dark sector which contribute to the Hubble rate and therefore change the predictions of the primordial nuclear abundances. We pay special attention to the case of…
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…
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…
The primordial abundance of $^4$He plays a central role in big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The LBT $Y_{\rm p}$ Project's new measurement of the primordial $^4$He mass fraction $Y_{\rm p} =0.2458…
As electromagnetic showers may alter the abundance of Helium, Lithium, and Deuterium, we can place severe constraints on the lifetime and amount of electromagnetic energy injected by long-lived particles. Considering up-to-date measurements…
We study the growth of density perturbations in a universe with unstable dark matter particles. The mass (m_\nu) range 30 eV < m_\nu < 10 keV with lifetimes ($t_d$) in the range 10^7 sec < t_d < 10^16 sec are considered. We calculate the…
We have derived new bounds on the relativistic energy density in the Universe from cosmic microwave background (CMB), large scale structure (LSS), and type Ia supernova (SNI-a) observations. In terms of the effective number of neutrino…
We include correlations between elemental abundances in a Monte Carlo statistical analysis of BBN predictions, which, along with updated reaction rates and an improved BBN code, lead to tightened constraints on $\Omega_{B}$ and $N_{\nu}$.…
A key pillar of modern cosmology, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) offers a probe of the particle content and expansion rate of the Universe a mere few minutes after the beginning. When compared with the BBN predictions, the observationally…
At temperatures below the QCD phase transition, any substantial lepton number in the Universe can only be present within the neutrino sector. In this work, we systematically explore the impact of a non-vanishing lepton number on Big Bang…
Very light WIMPs (chi), thermal relics that annihilate late in the early Universe, change the energy and entropy densities at BBN and at recombination. BBN, in combination with the CMB, can remove some of the degeneracies among light WIMPs…