New BBN limits on physics beyond the standard model from 4He

Richard H. Cyburt; Brian D. Fields; Keith A. Olive; Evan Skillman

doi:10.1016/j.astropartphys.2005.01.005

New BBN limits on physics beyond the standard model from ⁴He

Richard H. Cyburt, Brian D. Fields, Keith A. Olive, Evan Skillman

Physics and Astronomy (Twin Cities)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

340 Scopus citations

Abstract

A recent analysis of the ⁴He abundance determined from observations of extragalactic HII regions indicates a significantly greater uncertainty for the ⁴He mass fraction. Furthermore, due to a different treatment of systematic effects such as underlying stellar absorption, the derived value of the ⁴He abundance is slightly higher. As a result, the predicted value of the primordial ⁴He abundance is now in line with calculations from big bang nucleosynthesis when the baryon density determined by WMAP is assumed. Analysis based on prior estimates of the ⁴He abundance will necessarily lead to constraints which are overly restrictive. Based on this new analysis of ⁴He, we derive constraints on a host of particle properties which include: limits on the number of relativistic species at the time of BBN (commonly taken to be the limit on neutrino flavors), limits on the variations of fundamental couplings such as α_em and G_N, and limits on decaying particles.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	313-323
Number of pages	11
Journal	Astroparticle Physics
Volume	23
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2005.01.005
State	Published - Apr 2005

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
R.H.C. would like to thank C. Angulo, P. Descouvemont and P. Serpico for helpful discussions on our respective BBN rate compilations [11–13] . The work of K.A.O. was partially supported by DOE grant DE-FG02-94ER-40823. The work of B.D.F. was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant AST-0092939. The work of R.H.C. was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Keywords

Big bang nucleosynthesis
Early Universe

Publisher link

10.1016/j.astropartphys.2005.01.005

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title = "New BBN limits on physics beyond the standard model from 4He",

abstract = "A recent analysis of the 4He abundance determined from observations of extragalactic HII regions indicates a significantly greater uncertainty for the 4He mass fraction. Furthermore, due to a different treatment of systematic effects such as underlying stellar absorption, the derived value of the 4He abundance is slightly higher. As a result, the predicted value of the primordial 4He abundance is now in line with calculations from big bang nucleosynthesis when the baryon density determined by WMAP is assumed. Analysis based on prior estimates of the 4He abundance will necessarily lead to constraints which are overly restrictive. Based on this new analysis of 4He, we derive constraints on a host of particle properties which include: limits on the number of relativistic species at the time of BBN (commonly taken to be the limit on neutrino flavors), limits on the variations of fundamental couplings such as αem and GN, and limits on decaying particles.",

keywords = "Big bang nucleosynthesis, Early Universe",

author = "Cyburt, {Richard H.} and Fields, {Brian D.} and Olive, {Keith A.} and Evan Skillman",

note = "Funding Information: R.H.C. would like to thank C. Angulo, P. Descouvemont and P. Serpico for helpful discussions on our respective BBN rate compilations [11–13] . The work of K.A.O. was partially supported by DOE grant DE-FG02-94ER-40823. The work of B.D.F. was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant AST-0092939. The work of R.H.C. was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.",

year = "2005",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1016/j.astropartphys.2005.01.005",

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AU - Cyburt, Richard H.

AU - Fields, Brian D.

AU - Olive, Keith A.

AU - Skillman, Evan

N1 - Funding Information: R.H.C. would like to thank C. Angulo, P. Descouvemont and P. Serpico for helpful discussions on our respective BBN rate compilations [11–13] . The work of K.A.O. was partially supported by DOE grant DE-FG02-94ER-40823. The work of B.D.F. was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant AST-0092939. The work of R.H.C. was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

PY - 2005/4

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AB - A recent analysis of the 4He abundance determined from observations of extragalactic HII regions indicates a significantly greater uncertainty for the 4He mass fraction. Furthermore, due to a different treatment of systematic effects such as underlying stellar absorption, the derived value of the 4He abundance is slightly higher. As a result, the predicted value of the primordial 4He abundance is now in line with calculations from big bang nucleosynthesis when the baryon density determined by WMAP is assumed. Analysis based on prior estimates of the 4He abundance will necessarily lead to constraints which are overly restrictive. Based on this new analysis of 4He, we derive constraints on a host of particle properties which include: limits on the number of relativistic species at the time of BBN (commonly taken to be the limit on neutrino flavors), limits on the variations of fundamental couplings such as αem and GN, and limits on decaying particles.

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KW - Early Universe

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