Cosmological solutions to the Lithium problem: Big-bang nucleosynthesis with photon cooling, XX-particle decay and a primordial magnetic field

Jun 30, 2014
9 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 90 (2014) 2, 023001
  • Published: Jul 1, 2014
e-Print:

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Abstract: (APS)

The Li7 abundance calculated in BBN with the baryon-to-photon ratio fixed from fits to the CMB power spectrum is inconsistent with the observed lithium abundances on the surface of metal-poor halo stars. Previous cosmological solutions proposed to resolve this Li7 problem include photon cooling (possibly via the Bose-Einstein condensation of a scalar particle) or the decay of a long-lived X particle (possibly the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle). In this paper we reanalyze these solutions, both separately and in concert. We also introduce the possibility of a primordial magnetic field (PMF) into these models. We constrain the X particles and the PMF parameters by the observed light element abundances using a likelihood analysis to show that the inclusion of all three possibilities leads to an optimum solution to the lithium problem. We deduce allowed ranges for the X particle parameters and energy density in the PMF that can solve Li7 problem.

Note:
  • 11 pages, 3 figures. Accepted 4 June 2014 publication in Physical Review D
  • 26.35.+c
  • 98.62.En
  • 98.80.Es
  • 98.80.Ft
  • magnetic field: primordial
  • nucleosynthesis: big bang
  • cosmic background radiation: power spectrum
  • scalar particle: condensation
  • condensation: Bose-Einstein
  • energy: density