5 research outputs found
Bounds on long-lived charged massive particles from Big Bang nucleosynthesis
The Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the presence of charged massive
particles (CHAMPs) is studied in detail. All currently known effects due to the
existence of bound states between CHAMPs and nuclei, including possible
late-time destruction of Li6 and Li7 are included. The study sets conservative
bounds on CHAMP abundances in the decay time range 3x10^2 sec - 10^12 sec. It
is stressed that the production of Li6 at early times T ~ 10keV is
overestimated by a factor ~ 10 when the approximation of the Saha equation for
the He4 bound state fraction is utilised. To obtain conservative limits on the
abundance of CHAMPs, a Monte-Carlo analysis with ~ 3x10^6 independent BBN runs,
varying reaction rates of nineteen different reactions, is performed (see
attached erratum, however). The analysis yields the surprising result that
except for small areas in the particle parameter space conservative constraints
on the abundance of decaying charged particles are currently very close to
those of neutral particles. It is shown that, in case a number of heretofore
unconsidered reactions may be determined reliably in future, it is conceivable
that the limit on CHAMPs in the early Universe could be tightened by orders of
magnitude. An ERRATUM gives limits on primordial CHAMP densities when the by
Ref. Kamimura et al. recently more accurately determined CHAMP reaction rates
are employed.Comment: includes Erratum showing most up to date limits after determination
of the most important reaction rate
Entropy production by Q-ball decay for diluting long-lived charged particles
The cosmic abundance of a long-lived charged particle such as a stau is
tightly constrained by the catalyzed big bang nucleosynthesis. One of the ways
to evade the constraints is to dilute those particles by a huge entropy
production. We evaluate the dilution factor in a case that non-relativistic
matter dominates the energy density of the universe and decays with large
entropy production. We find that large Q balls can do the job, which is
naturally produced in the gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking scenario.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
Probing new physics with long-lived charged particles produced by atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos
As suggested by some extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics,
dark matter may be a super-weakly interacting lightest stable particle, while
the next-to-lightest particle (NLP) is charged and meta-stable. One could test
such a possibility with neutrino telescopes, by detecting the charged NLPs
produced in high-energy neutrino collisions with Earth matter. We study the
production of charged NLPs by both atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos;
only the latter, which is largely uncertain and has not been detected yet, was
the focus of previous studies. We compute the resulting fluxes of the charged
NLPs, compare those of different origins, and analyze the dependence on the
underlying particle physics setup. We point out that even if the astrophysical
neutrino flux is very small, atmospheric neutrinos, especially those from the
prompt decay of charmed mesons, may provide a detectable flux of NLP pairs at
neutrino telescopes such as IceCube. We also comment on the flux of charged
NLPs expected from proton-nucleon collisions, and show that, for theoretically
motivated and phenomenologically viable models, it is typically sub-dominant
and below detectable rates.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures; accepted for publication in JCA
A Bitter Pill: The Primordial Lithium Problem Worsens
The lithium problem arises from the significant discrepancy between the
primordial 7Li abundance as predicted by BBN theory and the WMAP baryon
density, and the pre-Galactic lithium abundance inferred from observations of
metal-poor (Population II) stars. This problem has loomed for the past decade,
with a persistent discrepancy of a factor of 2--3 in 7Li/H. Recent developments
have sharpened all aspects of the Li problem. Namely: (1) BBN theory
predictions have sharpened due to new nuclear data, particularly the
uncertainty on 3He(alpha,gamma)7Be, has reduced to 7.4%, and with a central
value shift of ~ +0.04 keV barn. (2) The WMAP 5-year data now yields a cosmic
baryon density with an uncertainty reduced to 2.7%. (3) Observations of
metal-poor stars have tested for systematic effects, and have reaped new
lithium isotopic data. With these, we now find that the BBN+WMAP predicts 7Li/H
= (5.24+0.71-0.67) 10^{-10}. The Li problem remains and indeed is exacerbated;
the discrepancy is now a factor 2.4--4.3 or 4.2sigma (from globular cluster
stars) to 5.3sigma (from halo field stars). Possible resolutions to the lithium
problem are briefly reviewed, and key nuclear, particle, and astronomical
measurements highlighted.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures. Comments welcom
The Number Density of a Charged Relic.
We investigate scenarios in which a charged, long-lived scalar particle
decouples from the primordial plasma in the Early Universe. We compute the
number density at time of freeze-out considering both the cases of abelian and
non-abelian interactions and including the effect of Sommerfeld enhancement at
low initial velocity. We also discuss as extreme case the maximal cross section
that fulfils the unitarity bound. We then compare these number densities to the
exotic nuclei searches for stable relics and to the BBN bounds on unstable
relics and draw conclusions for the cases of a stau or stop NLSP in
supersymmetric models with a gravitino or axino LSP.Comment: 45 page