2007/10/25 by Thomas Dent, Steffen Stern, Christof Wetterich
Physics and Astronomy · #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Neutrino Physics Research #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0954-3899/35/1/014005
published as J.Phys.G35:014005,2008 · Refereed article to be published in Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics III Proceedings, J. Phys. G. Special Issue. Based on work in collaboration with C. Wetterich (Heidelberg). 6 pages
arxiv created 2007/10/25 · openalex publication_date 2007/12/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is the earliest sensitive probe of the values of many fundamental particle physics parameters. We have found the leading linear dependences of primordial abundances on all relevant parameters of the standard BBN code, including binding energies and nuclear reaction rates. This enables us to set limits on possible variations of fundamental parameters. We find that 7 Li is expected to be significantly more sensitive than other species to many fundamental parameters, a result which also holds for variations of coupling strengths in grand unified (GUT) models. Our work also indicates which areas of nuclear theory need further development if the values of 'constants' are to be more accurately probed.