Big bang nucleosynthesis with long-lived charged massive particles

Kazunori Kohri and Fumihiro Takayama
Phys. Rev. D 76, 063507 – Published 17 September 2007

Abstract

We consider big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) with long-lived charged massive particles. Before decaying, the long-lived charged particle recombines with a light element to form a bound state like a hydrogen atom. This effect modifies the nuclear-reaction rates during the BBN epoch through the modifications of the Coulomb field and the kinematics of the captured light elements, which can change the light element abundances. It is possible for heavier nuclei abundances such as Li7 and Be7 to decrease sizably, while the ratios Yp, D/H, and He3/H remain unchanged. This may solve the current discrepancy between the BBN prediction and the observed abundance of Li7. If future collider experiments find signals of a long-lived charged particle inside the detector, the information of its lifetime and decay properties could provide insights into not only the particle physics models but also the phenomena in the early Universe, in turn.

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  • Received 15 December 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.76.063507

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Kazunori Kohri

  • Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Fumihiro Takayama

  • Institute for High Energy Phenomenology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA

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Vol. 76, Iss. 6 — 15 September 2007

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