TY - JOUR
T1 - Big bang nucleosynthesis as a probe of new physics
AU - Pospelov, Maxim
AU - Pradler, Josef
PY - 2010/11/23
Y1 - 2010/11/23
N2 - Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), an epoch of primordial nuclear transformations in the expanding universe, has left an observable imprint in the abundances of light elements. Precision observations of such abundances, combined with high-accuracy predictions, provide a nontrivial test of the hot big bang and probe nonstandard cosmological and particle physics scenarios. We give an overview of BBN sensitivity to different classes of new physics: new particle or field degrees of freedom, time-varying couplings, decaying or annihilating massive particles leading to nonthermal processes, and catalysis of BBN by charged relics.
AB - Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), an epoch of primordial nuclear transformations in the expanding universe, has left an observable imprint in the abundances of light elements. Precision observations of such abundances, combined with high-accuracy predictions, provide a nontrivial test of the hot big bang and probe nonstandard cosmological and particle physics scenarios. We give an overview of BBN sensitivity to different classes of new physics: new particle or field degrees of freedom, time-varying couplings, decaying or annihilating massive particles leading to nonthermal processes, and catalysis of BBN by charged relics.
KW - abundances of light elements
KW - dark matter
KW - early universe
KW - extensions of the standard model
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U2 - 10.1146/annurev.nucl.012809.104521
DO - 10.1146/annurev.nucl.012809.104521
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77958467697
VL - 60
SP - 539
EP - 568
JO - Annual review of nuclear science
JF - Annual review of nuclear science
SN - 0163-8998
ER -