Big-bang nucleosynthesis and hadronic decay of long-lived massive particles

2004/08/31 by Masahiro Kawasaki, Kazunori Kohri, Takeo Moroi · 7 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Big Bang nucleosynthesis #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Hadron #Monte Carlo method #Nuclear physics #Nuclear reaction #Nucleosynthesis #Particle physics #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #Physics #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Statistics #astro-ph #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.71.083502

published as Phys.Rev. D71 (2005) 083502 · 94 pages, 49 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. D. This is a full length paper of the preprint astro-ph/0402490

arxiv created 2005/03/02 · openalex publication_date 2005/04/06 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We study the big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) with the long-lived exotic particle, called X. If the lifetime of X is longer than \ensuremath∼0.1 sec, its decay may cause nonthermal nuclear reactions during or after the BBN, altering the predictions of the standard BBN scenario. We pay particular attention to its hadronic decay modes and calculate the primordial abundances of the light elements. Using the result, we derive constraints on the primordial abundance of X. Compared to the previous studies, we have improved the following points in our analysis: The JETSET 7.4 Monte Carlo event generator is used to calculate the spectrum of hadrons produced by the decay of X; the evolution of the hadronic shower is studied taking into account the details of the energy-loss processes of the nuclei in the thermal bath; we have used the most recent observational constraints on the primordial abundances of the light elements; in order to estimate the uncertainties, we have performed the Monte Carlo simulation which includes the experimental errors of the cross sections and transferred energies. We will see that the nonthermal productions of D, ³He, ⁴He, and ⁶Li provide stringent upper bounds on the primordial abundance of a late-decaying particle, in particular, when the hadronic branching ratio of X is sizable. We apply our results to the gravitino problem, and obtain an upper bound on the reheating temperature after inflation.

Citations

• A New Measurement of the Primordial Abundance of Deuterium: Toward Convergence with the Baryon Density from the Cosmic Microwave Background?
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• A Realistic Determination of the Error on the Primordial Helium Abundance: Steps toward Nonparametric Nebular Helium Abundances
• First‐Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe ( WMAP ) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters
• A compilation of charged-particle induced thermonuclear reaction rates
• On the stopping of fast particles and on the creation of positive electrons
• Review of particle properties
• Classical Electrodynamics
• Classical Electrodynamics

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• Light Higgs boson scenario in the supersymmetric seesaw model
• Simultaneous solution to theLi<mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/>6andLi<mml:mprescripts/><mml:none/>7big bang nucleosynthesis problems from a long-lived negatively charged leptonic particle
• Revisiting gravitino dark matter in thermal leptogenesis
• Dark Matter and gauged flavor symmetries
• Perturbative analysis of the reheating dynamics of α-attractors
• Constraints on primordial black holes from big bang nucleosynthesis revisited
• Isocurvature constraints on gravitationally produced superheavy dark matter