Limits on active-sterile neutrino mixing and the primordial deuterium abundance
- Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0319 (United States)
Studies of limits on active-sterile neutrino mixing derived from big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) considerations are extended to consider the dependence of these constraints on the primordial deuterium abundance. This study is motivated by recent measurements of D/H in quasar absorption systems, which at present yield discordant results. Limits on active-sterile mixing are somewhat relaxed for high D/H ({approx_equal}2{times}10{sup {minus}4}). For low D/H ({approx_equal}2{times}10{sup {minus}5}), no active-sterile neutrino mixing is allowed by currently popular upper limits on the primordial {sup 4}He abundance {ital Y}. For such low primordial D/H values, the observational inference of active-sterile neutrino mixing by upcoming solar neutrino experiments would imply that {ital Y} has been systematically underestimated, unless there is new physics not included in standard BBN. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
- OSTI ID:
- 288207
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review, D, Journal Name: Physical Review, D Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 54; ISSN 0556-2821; ISSN PRVDAQ
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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