Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on $f(T,L_m)$ gravity

Abstract

We investigate Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the framework of $f(T,L_m)$ gravity, where the gravitational Lagrangian depends on the torsion scalar $T$ and the matter Lagrangian $L_m$. Working within a semi-analytical BBN strategy, we encode departures from GR through the expansion-rate ratio $Z\equiv H/H_{\mathrm{GR}}$ evaluated at a characteristic freeze-out temperature and combine this with the freeze-out condition and the observationally inferred abundances of deuterium and helium-4 to constrain the free parameters of three representative EFT-motivated $f(T,L_m)$ models. A distinctive aspect of $f(T,L_m)$ cosmology is that the explicit $L_m$ dependence can induce an effective energy exchange between the standard component and the modified-gravity sector; we therefore derive the corresponding interaction term $Q$ and restrict our analysis to the adiabatic regime $\epsilon \equiv |Q_{\mathrm{rad}}/(4H\ddot{I})|\ll 1$ throughout the BBN window, ensuring internal consistency of the temperature-based BBN mapping. Finally, to connect the radiation-era constraints with the late-time background, we present a two-fluid (dust+radiation) analysis showing how the $L_m$-dependent corrections decouple as $\ell \propto (1+z{)}^4\to 0$, yielding torsion-only ($f(T)$ or TEGR) cosmologies at late times on the GR-connected branch. Our results provide transparent first-pass BBN bounds on torsion--matter EFT corrections and identify viable parameter regions consistent with early-Universe data providing a controlled starting point for further early-Universe phenomenology in $f(T,L_m)$ gravity.

16 pages, 3 figures, Matches published version

References in corpus (1)

• BBN to Late-Time Acceleration in $f(T,{\mathcal{L}}_m)$ Gravity