New Constraints on Radiative Decay of Long-Lived Particles in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with New ${}^4$He Photodisintegration Data

Abstract

A recent measurement of ${}^4$He photodisintegration reactions, ${}^4$He($\gamma$,$p$)${}^3$H and ${}^4$He($\gamma$,$n$)${}^3$He with laser-Compton photons shows smaller cross sections than those estimated by other previous experiments at $E_{\gamma }\lesssim 30$ MeV. We study big-bang nucleosynthesis with the radiative particle decay using the new photodisintegration cross sections of ${}^4$He as well as previous data. The sensitivity of the yields of all light elements D, T, ${}^3$He, ${}^4$He, ${}^6$Li, ${}^7$Li and ${}^7$Be to the cross sections is investigated. The change of the cross sections has an influence on the non-thermal yields of D, ${}^3$He and ${}^4$He. On the other hand, the non-thermal ${}^6$Li production is not sensitive to the change of the cross sections at this low energy, since the non-thermal secondary synthesis of ${}^6$Li needs energetic photons of $E_{\gamma }\gtrsim 50$ MeV. The non-thermal nucleosynthesis triggered by the radiative particle decay is one of candidates of the production mechanism of ${}^6$Li observed in metal-poor halo stars (MPHSs). In the parameter region of the radiative particle lifetime and the emitted photon energy which satisfies the ${}^6$Li production above the abundance level observed in MPHSs, the change of the photodisintegration cross sections at $E_{\gamma }\lesssim 30$ MeV as measured in the recent experiment leads to $\sim 10$% reduction of resulting ${}^3$He abundance, whereas the ${}^6$Li abundance does not change for this change of the cross sections of ${}^4$He($\gamma$,$p$)${}^3$H and ${}^4$He($\gamma$,$n$)${}^3$He. The ${}^6$Li abundance, however, could show a sizable change and therefore the future precise measurement of the cross sections at high energy $E_{\gamma }\gtrsim$ 50 MeV is highly required.

10 pages, 7 figures, conclusion not changed, to be published in PRD

References in corpus (13)

• Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis and Gravitino
• Line shift, line asymmetry, and the 6Li/7Li isotopic ratio determination
• Stau-catalyzed ${}^6$Li Production in Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Bounds on long-lived charged massive particles from Big Bang nucleosynthesis
• Neutrino Nucleus Reactions based on New Shell Model Hamiltonians
• The cosmic 6Li and 7Li problems and BBN with long-lived charged massive particles
• Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis with Long-Lived Charged Slepton
• Primordial Lithium Abundance in Catalyzed Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Possible solution to the ${}^7$Li problem by the long lived stau
• A Simultaneous Solution to the ^6Li and ^7Li Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Problems from a Long-Lived Negatively-Charged Leptonic Particle
• Solving the cosmic lithium problems with primordial late-decaying particles
• Big-bang nucleosynthesis and the relic abundance of dark matter in a stau-neutralino coannihilation scenario
• Photonuclear sum rules and the tetrahedral configuration of ${}^4$He

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Effect of Long-lived Strongly Interacting Relic Particles on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis