Precision big bang nucleosynthesis with improved helium-4 predictions

DOI10.1016/J.PHYSREP.2018.04.005MaRDI QIDQ1786893zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Cyril Pitrou, Alain Coc, Jean-Philippe Uzan, Elisabeth Vangioni

Publication date 25 September 2018

Published in Physics Reports (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1801.08023

zbMATH Keywords

big bang nucleosynthesiscosmic microwave backgroundexpansion of the universeneutron lifetime

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Strong interaction, including quantum chromodynamics (81V05) Other fundamental interactions in quantum theory (81V19) Other elementary particle theory in quantum theory (81V25) Space-time singularities, cosmic censorship, etc. (83C75) Relativistic cosmology (83F05) Radiative transfer in astronomy and astrophysics (85A25) Astrophysical cosmology (85A40)

Abstract: Primordial nucleosynthesis is one of the three historical evidences for the big bang model, together with the expansion of the universe and the cosmic microwave background. Now that the number of neutrino families and the baryonic densities have been fixed by laboratory measurements or CMB observations, the model has no free parameter and its predictions are rigid. Departure from its predictions could provide hints or constraints on new physics or astrophysics in the early universe. Precision on primordial abundances deduced from observations have recently been drastically improved and reach the percent level for both deuterium and helium-4. Accordingly, the BBN predictions should reach the same level of precision. For most isotopes, the dominant sources of uncertainty come from those on the laboratory thermonuclear reactions. This article focuses on helium-4 whose predicted primordial abundance depends essentially on weak interactions which control the neutron-proton ratio. The rates of the various weak interaction processes depend on the experimentally measured neutron lifetime, but also includes numerous corrections that we thoroughly investigate here. They are the radiative, zero-temperature, corrections, finite nucleon mass corrections, finite temperature radiative corrections, weak-magnetism, and QED plasma effects, which are for the first time all included and calculated in a self consistent way, allowing to take into account the correlations between them, and verifying that all satisfy detailed balance. The helium-4 predicted mass fraction is $0.24709pm0.00017$. In addition, we provide a Mathematica code (PRIMAT) that incorporates, not only these corrections but also a full network of reactions, using the best available thermonuclear reaction rates, allowing the predictions of primordial abundances up to the CNO region.

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Cites work

• Numerical Treatment of Coulomb Wave Functions
• Parameterization of temperature and spectral distortions in future CMB experiments

Cited in

(19)

• Nucleosynthesis without computer
• A chiral model for sterile neutrino
• Hearing without seeing: gravitational waves from hot and cold hidden sectors
• AlterBBN v2: a public code for calculating big-bang nucleosynthesis constraints in alternative cosmologies
• The surprising influence of late charged current weak interactions on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Neutrino decoupling including flavour oscillations and primordial nucleosynthesis
• Observing invisible axions with gravitational waves
• Constraints on bimetric gravity from Big Bang nucleosynthesis
• Towards a precision calculation of the effective number of neutrinos N_eff in the Standard Model: the QED equation of state
• Warm decaying dark matter and the hubble tension
• Constraints on Axion-Lepton coupling from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Analyzing the Hubble tension through hidden sector dynamics in the early universe
• Boltzmann or Bogoliubov? Approaches compared in gravitational particle production
• The 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity: a review
• Statistical mechanics and the description of the early universe. (II). Principle of detailed balance and primordial \(^4\)He formation
• Local clustering of relic neutrinos with kinetic field theory
• The Big Bang nucleosynthesis abundances of the light elements using improved thermonuclear reaction rates
• Ponderomotive effects of ultralight dark matter
• Primordial \(^{4}\)He abundance constrains the possible time variation of the Higgs vacuum expectation value

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Uses Software

• CAMB

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