Bounds on Dirac neutrino masses from nucleosynthesis

1994/07/28 by A. D. Dolgov, Kimmo Kainulainen, K. Kainulainen +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Neutrino Physics Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.51.4129

published as Phys.Rev.D51:4129-4133,1995 · 10 pages, UM-TH-94-21, UMN-TH-1303-94, FERMILAB-Pub-94/199-A

arxiv created 1994/07/28 · openalex publication_date 1995/04/15 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We derive new bounds on the Dirac mass of the tau and muonic neutrinos. By solving the kinetic equation for the rate of energy deposition due to helicity-flipping processes and imposing the constraint that the number of effective species contributing to the energy density at the time of nucleosynthesis be \ensuremathΔk_\ensuremathν0.3, we find the bounds m_\ensuremathν\mathrm\ensuremathμ150 keV and m_\ensuremathν\mathrm\ensuremathτ190 keV for T_QCD=200 MeV. The constraint \ensuremathΔk_\ensuremathν0.1 leads to the much stronger bound m_\ensuremathν10 keV for both species of neutrinos.

Citations

• New upper limits on the tau-neutrino mass from primordial helium considerations

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