1994/02/03 by Peter J. Kernan, Lawrence M. Krauss · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Baryon #Big Bang nucleosynthesis #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Neutrino #Nuclear physics #Nuclear reaction #Nucleosynthesis #Omega #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Quantum mechanics #astro-ph #hep-ph #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.72.3309
published as Phys.Rev.Lett. 72 (1994) 3309-3312 · 13 pages, latex, 3 uuencoded figures (appended)
arxiv created 1994/02/03 · openalex publication_date 1994/05/23 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2017/03/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We include corelations between elemental abundances in a Monte Carlo statistical analysis of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) predictions, which, along with updated reaction rates and an improved BBN code, lead to tightened constraints on \mathrm\ensuremathΩB and N_\ensuremathν. Observational upper limits on the respective primordial 4He and D+3He fractions of 24% (by mass) and 10^\mathrm\ensuremath-4 lead to the limits 0.0097h^\mathrm\ensuremath-2\ensuremath≤\mathrm\ensuremathΩB\ensuremath≤0.011h^\mathrm\ensuremath-2 and N_\ensuremathν\ensuremath≤3.04. The former argues against purely baryonic galactic halo dark matter, while the latter could put qualitatively new constraints on neutrinos and new physics. Systematic uncertainties in the inferred primordial abundances of 4He and D+3He are required to relax these constraints.