Big bang nucleosynthesis as a probe of fundamental "constants"

Abstract

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 7Li 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.

arXiv commentRefereed 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

References in corpus (8)

• Cosmology and the Fate of Dilatation Symmetry
• The fundamental constants and their variation: observational status and theoretical motivations
• Further evidence for a variable fine-structure constant from Keck/HIRES QSO absorption spectra
• A Realistic Determination of the Error on the Primordial Helium Abundance: Steps Toward Non-Parametric Nebular Helium Abundances
• The Deuterium to Hydrogen Abundance Ratio Towards the QSO SDSS1558-0031
• n+p -> d+gamma for Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Nucleosynthesis and the variation of fundamental couplings
• Big Bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background constraints on the time variation of the Higgs vacuum expectation value

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Resonant enhancement of nuclear reactions as a possible solution to the cosmological lithium problem
• On the cosmological evolution of alpha and mu and the dynamics of dark energy
• Dimensionless cosmology
• Evolution of the Chameleon Scalar Field in the Early Universe