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Title: Gravitino decays and the cosmological lithium problem in light of the LHC Higgs and supersymmetry searches

Abstract

We studied previously the impact on light-element abundances of gravitinos decaying during or after Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). We found regions of the gravitino mass m{sub 3/2} and abundance ζ{sub 3/2} plane where its decays could reconcile the calculated abundance of {sup 7}Li with observation without perturbing the other light-element abundances unacceptably. Here we revisit this issue in light of LHC measurements of the Higgs mass and constraints on supersymmetric model parameters, as well as updates in the astrophysical measurements of light-element abundances. In addition to the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with universal soft supersymmetry-breaking masses at the GUT scale (the CMSSM) studied previously, we also study models with universality imposed below the GUT scale and models with non-universal Higgs masses (NUHM1). We calculate the total likelihood function for the light-element abundances, taking into account the observational uncertainties. We find that gravitino decays provide a robust solution to the cosmological {sup 7}Li problem along strips in the (m{sub 3/2},ζ{sub 3/2}) plane along which the abundances of deuterium, {sup 4}He and {sup 7}Li may be fit with χ{sup 2}{sub min}∼<3, compared with χ{sup 2} ∼ 34 if the effects of gravitino decays are unimportant. The minimum of themore » likelihood function is reduced to χ{sup 2} < 2 when the uncertainty on D/H is relaxed and < 1 when the lithium abundance is taken from globular cluster data.« less

Authors:
 [1]; ;  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL), Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 (United States)
  2. Theoretical Physics and Cosmology Group, Department of Physics, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS (United Kingdom)
  3. Departments of Astronomy and of Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 (United States)
  4. William I. Fine Theoretical Physics Institute, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22282867
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2013; Journal Issue: 05; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 1475-7516
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; 79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ASTROPHYSICS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; COSMOLOGY; DEUTERIUM; ELEMENT ABUNDANCE; GRAVITINOS; GRAVITONS; HELIUM 4; HIGGS BOSONS; HIGGS MODEL; LITHIUM; LITHIUM 7; NUCLEOSYNTHESIS; PARTICLE DECAY; REST MASS; STANDARD MODEL; SUPERSYMMETRY; SYMMETRY BREAKING

Citation Formats

Cyburt, Richard H., Ellis, John, Luo, Feng, Fields, Brian D., Olive, Keith A., and Spanos, Vassilis C., E-mail: cyburt@nscl.msu.edu, E-mail: John.Ellis@cern.ch, E-mail: bdfields@illinois.edu, E-mail: fluo@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: olive@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: spanos@inp.demokritos.gr. Gravitino decays and the cosmological lithium problem in light of the LHC Higgs and supersymmetry searches. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2013/05/014.
Cyburt, Richard H., Ellis, John, Luo, Feng, Fields, Brian D., Olive, Keith A., & Spanos, Vassilis C., E-mail: cyburt@nscl.msu.edu, E-mail: John.Ellis@cern.ch, E-mail: bdfields@illinois.edu, E-mail: fluo@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: olive@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: spanos@inp.demokritos.gr. Gravitino decays and the cosmological lithium problem in light of the LHC Higgs and supersymmetry searches. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2013/05/014
Cyburt, Richard H., Ellis, John, Luo, Feng, Fields, Brian D., Olive, Keith A., and Spanos, Vassilis C., E-mail: cyburt@nscl.msu.edu, E-mail: John.Ellis@cern.ch, E-mail: bdfields@illinois.edu, E-mail: fluo@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: olive@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: spanos@inp.demokritos.gr. 2013. "Gravitino decays and the cosmological lithium problem in light of the LHC Higgs and supersymmetry searches". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/1475-7516/2013/05/014.
@article{osti_22282867,
title = {Gravitino decays and the cosmological lithium problem in light of the LHC Higgs and supersymmetry searches},
author = {Cyburt, Richard H. and Ellis, John and Luo, Feng and Fields, Brian D. and Olive, Keith A. and Spanos, Vassilis C., E-mail: cyburt@nscl.msu.edu, E-mail: John.Ellis@cern.ch, E-mail: bdfields@illinois.edu, E-mail: fluo@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: olive@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: spanos@inp.demokritos.gr},
abstractNote = {We studied previously the impact on light-element abundances of gravitinos decaying during or after Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). We found regions of the gravitino mass m{sub 3/2} and abundance ζ{sub 3/2} plane where its decays could reconcile the calculated abundance of {sup 7}Li with observation without perturbing the other light-element abundances unacceptably. Here we revisit this issue in light of LHC measurements of the Higgs mass and constraints on supersymmetric model parameters, as well as updates in the astrophysical measurements of light-element abundances. In addition to the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with universal soft supersymmetry-breaking masses at the GUT scale (the CMSSM) studied previously, we also study models with universality imposed below the GUT scale and models with non-universal Higgs masses (NUHM1). We calculate the total likelihood function for the light-element abundances, taking into account the observational uncertainties. We find that gravitino decays provide a robust solution to the cosmological {sup 7}Li problem along strips in the (m{sub 3/2},ζ{sub 3/2}) plane along which the abundances of deuterium, {sup 4}He and {sup 7}Li may be fit with χ{sup 2}{sub min}∼<3, compared with χ{sup 2} ∼ 34 if the effects of gravitino decays are unimportant. The minimum of the likelihood function is reduced to χ{sup 2} < 2 when the uncertainty on D/H is relaxed and < 1 when the lithium abundance is taken from globular cluster data.},
doi = {10.1088/1475-7516/2013/05/014},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22282867}, journal = {Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics},
issn = {1475-7516},
number = 05,
volume = 2013,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Wed May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}