3 research outputs found
Neutrino-Mixing-Generated Lepton Asymmetry and the Primordial He Abundance
It has been proposed that an asymmetry in the electron neutrino sector may be
generated by resonant active-sterile neutrino transformations during Big Bang
Nucleosynthesis (BBN). We calculate the change in the primordial He yield
resulting from this asymmetry, taking into account both the time evolution
of the and distribution function and the spectral
distortions in these. We calculate this change in two schemes: (1) a lepton
asymmetry directly generated by mixing with a lighter right-handed
sterile neutrino ; and (2) a lepton asymmetry generated by a
or transformation
which is subsequently partially converted to an asymmetry in the
sector by a matter-enhanced active-active neutrino
transformation. In the first scheme, we find that the percentage change in
is between -1% and 9% (with the sign depending on the sign of the asymmetry),
bounded by the Majorana mass limit m_{\nu_e}\la 1 eV. In the second scheme,
the maximal percentage reduction in is 2%, if the lepton number asymmetry
in neutrinos is positive; Otherwise, the percentage increase in is \la 5%
for m^2_{\nu_\mu,\nu_\tau}-m^2_{\nu_s}\la 10^4 eV. We conclude that the
change in the primordial He yield induced by a neutrino-mixing-generated
lepton number asymmetry can be substantial in the upward direction, but limited
in the downward direction.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted to PR