Constraints on bimetric gravity from Big Bang nucleosynthesis

Abstract

Bimetric gravity is a ghost-free and observationally viable extension of general relativity, exhibiting both a massless and a massive graviton. The observed abundances of light elements can be used to constrain the expansion history of the Universe at the period of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Applied to bimetric gravity, we readily obtain constraints on the theory parameters which are complementary to other observational probes. For example, the mixing angle between the two gravitons must satisfy $\theta \lesssim 18^{\circ }$ in the graviton mass range $m_{\mathrm{FP}}\gtrsim 10^{-16}\mathrm{eV}/c^2$, representing a factor of two improvement compared with other cosmological probes.

5 pages, v2 minor updates in accordance with the published version. For a short (5 min) video summarizing the main result, see https://youtu.be/uqdbOZQ7k_k