Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with Independent Neutrino Distribution Functions

Abstract

We have performed new Big Bang Nucleosynthesis calculations which employ arbitrarily-specified, time-dependent neutrino and antineutrino distribution functions for each of up to four neutrino flavors. We self-consistently couple these distributions to the thermodynamics, the expansion rate and scale factor-time/temperature relationship, as well as to all relevant weak, electromagnetic, and strong nuclear reaction processes in the early universe. With this approach, we can treat any scenario in which neutrino or antineutrino spectral distortion might arise. These scenarios might include, for example, decaying particles, active-sterile neutrino oscillations, and active-active neutrino oscillations in the presence of significant lepton numbers. Our calculations allow lepton numbers and sterile neutrinos to be constrained with observationally-determined primordial helium and deuterium abundances. We have modified a standard BBN code to perform these calculations and have made it available to the community.

9 pages, 5 figures

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• Constraining Sterile Neutrino Warm Dark Matter with Chandra Observations of the Andromeda Galaxy
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• Constraining the cosmic radiation density due to lepton number with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• New Nuclear Physics for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Improved Limits on Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter using Full-Sky Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor Data
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• Weak Interaction Rate Coulomb Corrections in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Cosmic Neutrino Decoupling and its Observable Imprints: Insights from Entropic-Dual Transport