Big-bang nucleosynthesis with high-energy photon injection

The author discusses the photodissociation of light elements due to the radiative decay of a massive particle, and he has shown how to constrain the model parameters from the observed light-element abundances. He adopted two quasar absorption system (QAS) D/H values, as well as solar system data for D/H and {sup 3}He/H. For each of these, he used two {sup 4}He values. He presents his results in terms of the confidence level at which each theoretical parameter set (i.e., the set of properties of a radiatively decaying particle) is excluded by the observed abundances. His algorithm for computing the confidence level is consistent and general enough to apply not only to the scenarios investigated in this work, but also to many other non-standard theories of BBN

Radiative Decay of a Long-Lived Particle and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis

The effects of radiatively decaying, long-lived particles on big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) are discussed. If high-energy photons are emitted after BBN, they may change the abundances of the light elements through photodissociation processes, which may result in a significant discrepancy between the BBN theory and observation. We calculate the abundances of the light elements, including the effects of photodissociation induced by a radiatively decaying particle, but neglecting the hadronic branching ratio. Using these calculated abundances, we derive a constraint on such particles by comparing our theoretical results with observations. Taking into account the recent controversies regarding the observations of the light-element abundances, we derive constraints for various combinations of the measurements. We also discuss several models which predict such radiatively decaying particles, and we derive constraints on such models.Comment: Published version in Phys. Rev. D. Typos in figure captions correcte

Big-bang nucleosynthesis with high-energy photon injection

The author discusses the photodissociation of light elements due to the radiative decay of a massive particle, and he has shown how to constrain the model parameters from the observed light-element abundances. He adopted two quasar absorption system (QAS) D/H values, as well as solar system data for D/H and {sup 3}He/H. For each of these, he used two {sup 4}He values. He presents his results in terms of the confidence level at which each theoretical parameter set (i.e., the set of properties of a radiatively decaying particle) is excluded by the observed abundances. His algorithm for computing the confidence level is consistent and general enough to apply not only to the scenarios investigated in this work, but also to many other non-standard theories of BBN

Big-bang nucleosynthesis with high-energy photon injection

The author discusses the photodissociation of light elements due to the radiative decay of a massive particle, and he has shown how to constrain the model parameters from the observed light-element abundances. He adopted two quasar absorption system (QAS) D/H values, as well as solar system data for D/H and {sup 3}He/H. For each of these, he used two {sup 4}He values. He presents his results in terms of the confidence level at which each theoretical parameter set (i.e., the set of properties of a radiatively decaying particle) is excluded by the observed abundances. His algorithm for computing the confidence level is consistent and general enough to apply not only to the scenarios investigated in this work, but also to many other non-standard theories of BBN