DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Lepton asymmetry, neutrino spectral distortions, and big bang nucleosynthesis

Abstract

In this paper, we calculate Boltzmann neutrino energy transport with self-consistently coupled nuclear reactions through the weak-decoupling-nucleosynthesis epoch in an early universe with significant lepton numbers. We find that the presence of lepton asymmetry enhances processes which give rise to nonthermal neutrino spectral distortions. Our results reveal how asymmetries in energy and entropy density uniquely evolve for different transport processes and neutrino flavors. The enhanced distortions in the neutrino spectra alter the expected big bang nucleosynthesis light element abundance yields relative to those in the standard Fermi-Dirac neutrino distribution cases. These yields, sensitive to the shapes of the neutrino energy spectra, are also sensitive to the phasing of the growth of distortions and entropy flow with time/scale factor. Finally, we analyze these issues and speculate on new sensitivity limits of deuterium and helium to lepton number.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Physics
  2. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics. Dept. of Physics and Biophysics
  4. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; National Science Foundation (NSF)
Contributing Org.:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
1357124
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1345690
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-16-29176
Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC52-06NA25396; AC02-05CH11231; PHY-1307372
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review D
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 95; Journal Issue: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2470-0010
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; cosmological parameters from CMBR, big bang nucleosynthesis, cosmological neutrinos, neutrino lepton numbers, neutrino theory

Citation Formats

Grohs, E., Fuller, George M., Kishimoto, C. T., and Paris, Mark W. Lepton asymmetry, neutrino spectral distortions, and big bang nucleosynthesis. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.95.063503.
Grohs, E., Fuller, George M., Kishimoto, C. T., & Paris, Mark W. Lepton asymmetry, neutrino spectral distortions, and big bang nucleosynthesis. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.063503
Grohs, E., Fuller, George M., Kishimoto, C. T., and Paris, Mark W. Fri . "Lepton asymmetry, neutrino spectral distortions, and big bang nucleosynthesis". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.95.063503. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1357124.
@article{osti_1357124,
title = {Lepton asymmetry, neutrino spectral distortions, and big bang nucleosynthesis},
author = {Grohs, E. and Fuller, George M. and Kishimoto, C. T. and Paris, Mark W.},
abstractNote = {In this paper, we calculate Boltzmann neutrino energy transport with self-consistently coupled nuclear reactions through the weak-decoupling-nucleosynthesis epoch in an early universe with significant lepton numbers. We find that the presence of lepton asymmetry enhances processes which give rise to nonthermal neutrino spectral distortions. Our results reveal how asymmetries in energy and entropy density uniquely evolve for different transport processes and neutrino flavors. The enhanced distortions in the neutrino spectra alter the expected big bang nucleosynthesis light element abundance yields relative to those in the standard Fermi-Dirac neutrino distribution cases. These yields, sensitive to the shapes of the neutrino energy spectra, are also sensitive to the phasing of the growth of distortions and entropy flow with time/scale factor. Finally, we analyze these issues and speculate on new sensitivity limits of deuterium and helium to lepton number.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.95.063503},
journal = {Physical Review D},
number = 6,
volume = 95,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Mar 03 00:00:00 EST 2017},
month = {Fri Mar 03 00:00:00 EST 2017}
}

Journal Article:

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 14 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Large lepton asymmetry for small baryon asymmetry and warm dark matter
journal, November 2010


Neutrino flavor conversion in a supernova core
journal, March 1993


Nonequilibrium effect of the neutrino distribution on primordial helium synthesis
journal, December 1992


Probing neutrino physics with a self-consistent treatment of the weak decoupling, nucleosynthesis, and photon decoupling epochs
journal, May 2015

  • Grohs, E.; Fuller, George M.; Kishimoto, Chad T.
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2015, Issue 05
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2015/05/017

Sterile neutrinos as dark matter
journal, January 1994


Neutrino flavor transformation in the lepton-asymmetric universe
journal, October 2016


CP violation effects on the neutrino degeneracy parameters in the Early Universe
journal, September 2010


New Dark Matter Candidate: Nonthermal Sterile Neutrinos
journal, April 1999


How does the cosmic microwave background plus big bang nucleosynthesis constrain new physics?
journal, November 2001


Constraints on neutrino masses from WMAP5 and BBN in the lepton asymmetric universe
journal, July 2009

  • Shiraishi, Maresuke; Ichikawa, Kazuhide; Ichiki, Kiyotomo
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2009, Issue 07
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2009/07/005

Multimomentum and multiflavor active-sterile neutrino oscillations in the early universe: Role of neutrino asymmetries and effects on nucleosynthesis
journal, April 2013


The Cosmological Baryon Density from the Deuterium‐to‐Hydrogen Ratio in QSO Absorption Systems: D/H toward Q1243+3047
journal, November 2003

  • Kirkman, David; Tytler, David; Suzuki, Nao
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 149, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1086/378152

Brane-world solutions, standard cosmology, and dark radiation
journal, February 2000


Neutrino quantum kinetic equations
journal, September 2015


Thirty Meter Telescope Detailed Science Case: 2015
journal, December 2015


Generation of large lepton asymmetries
journal, January 1999


Neutrino–neutrino interactions and flavour mixing in dense matter
journal, November 2006

  • Balantekin, A. B.; Pehlivan, Y.
  • Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics, Vol. 34, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1088/0954-3899/34/1/004

Neutrino quantum kinetic equations: The collision term
journal, August 2016


Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters
journal, October 2014


Non-equilibrium corrections to the spectra of massless neutrinos in the early universe
journal, March 1999


Extended evolution equations for neutrino propagation in astrophysical and cosmological environments
journal, June 2013


Oscillating neutrinos in the early Universe
journal, March 1994


Sterile neutrino hot, warm, and cold dark matter
journal, May 2001


keV sterile neutrino dark matter in gauge extensions of the standard model
journal, April 2010


THE PRIMORDIAL DEUTERIUM ABUNDANCE OF THE MOST METAL-POOR DAMPED Ly α SYSTEM
journal, October 2016


Relic neutrino decoupling with flavour oscillations revisited
journal, July 2016


Coherent Active-Sterile Neutrino Flavor Transformation in the Early Universe
journal, October 2006


Neutrino oscillations in the early Universe with nonequilibrium neutrino distributions
journal, September 1995


Cosmological bounds on neutrino degeneracy improved by flavor oscillations
journal, June 2002


Neutrino quantum kinetics
journal, May 2014


Relic neutrino decoupling including flavour oscillations
journal, November 2005


A White Paper on keV sterile neutrino Dark Matter
journal, January 2017


Non equilibrium spectra of degenerate relic neutrinos
journal, December 2000


Neutrino oscillations in the early universe
journal, February 1991


Neutrino physics from the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure
journal, March 2015


Lepton asymmetry and primordial nucleosynthesis in the era of precision cosmology
journal, June 2005


A precision calculation of the effective number of cosmological neutrinos
journal, May 2002


Neutrino energy transport in weak decoupling and big bang nucleosynthesis
journal, April 2016


Using Big Bang Nucleosynthesis to extend CMB probes of neutrino physics
journal, May 2010

  • Shimon, M.; Miller, N. J.; Kishimoto, C. T.
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2010, Issue 05
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2010/05/037

Precision Measures of the Primordial Abundance of Deuterium
journal, January 2014


Cosmological baryon and lepton number in the presence of electroweak fermion-number violation
journal, November 1990


The small observed baryon asymmetry from a large lepton asymmetry
journal, November 1999


BBN for pedestrians
journal, January 2004


Sterile Neutrinos as the Origin of Dark and Baryonic Matter
journal, February 2013


Big bang nucleosynthesis with independent neutrino distribution functions
journal, May 2009


Element Production in the Early Universe
journal, December 1977


Finite temperature radiative corrections to neutron decay and related processes
journal, December 1982


Constraining neutrino physics with big bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background radiation
journal, December 2001


Non-equilibrium corrections to the spectra of massless neutrinos in the early universe
journal, October 1997


New production mechanism for keV sterile neutrino Dark Matter by decays of frozen-in scalars
journal, March 2014

  • Merle, Alexander; Niro, Viviana; Schmidt, Daniel
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2014, Issue 03
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2014/03/028

Neutrino degeneracy effect on neutrino oscillations and primordial helium yield
journal, November 1998


On the Synthesis of Elements at Very High Temperatures
journal, April 1967

  • Wagoner, Robert V.; Fowler, William A.; Hoyle, F.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 148
  • DOI: 10.1086/149126

Resonantly Produced 7 keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter Models and the Properties of Milky Way Satellites
journal, April 2014


The surprising influence of late charged current weak interactions on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
journal, October 2016


Large lepton asymmetry from Q -balls
journal, August 2002


Sterile neutrinos, lepton asymmetries, primordial elements: How much of each?
journal, October 2006


Cosmological lepton asymmetry, primordial nucleosynthesis and sterile neutrinos
journal, September 2005


Constraining the cosmic radiation density due to lepton number with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
journal, March 2011

  • Mangano, Gianpiero; Miele, Gennaro; Pastor, Sergio
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2011, Issue 03
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2011/03/035

The primordial abundance of deuterium: ionization correction
journal, November 2015

  • Cooke, Ryan; Pettini, Max
  • Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 455, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stv2343

Stringent constraints on cosmological neutrino-antineutrino asymmetries from synchronized flavor transformation
journal, July 2002


Precision prediction for the big-bang abundance of primordial 4 He
journal, March 1999


Experimental, computational, and observational analysis of primordial nucleosynthesis
journal, March 1993

  • Smith, Michael S.; Kawano, Lawrence H.; Malaney, Robert A.
  • The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, Vol. 85
  • DOI: 10.1086/191763

Neutrino oscillations and the leptonic charge of the universe
journal, February 1991

  • Savage, Martin J.; Malaney, Robert A.; Fuller, George M.
  • The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 368
  • DOI: 10.1086/169665

Astrophysical applications of quantum corrections to the equation of state of a plasma
journal, January 1994


Finite temperature effects on the neutrino decoupling in the early Universe
journal, October 1997


The νMSM, dark matter and neutrino masses
journal, December 2005


Dark matter from split seesaw
journal, September 2010


Generation of cosmological large lepton asymmetry from a rolling scalar field
journal, September 2003


Constraining the universal lepton asymmetry
journal, August 2008


A new, precise measurement of the primordial abundance of deuterium: The primordial abundance of deuterium
journal, August 2012


The νMSM, inflation, and dark matter
journal, August 2006


Neutrino oscillations in the early universe
journal, May 2001


Relic neutrino decoupling with flavour oscillations revisited
text, January 2016


A White Paper on keV sterile neutrino Dark Matter
text, January 2017

  • Hassel, C.; Wendt, K.; Mavromatos, N. E.
  • Institute of Physics Publishing IOP
  • DOI: 10.7892/boris.95470

Cosmological lepton asymmetry, primordial nucleosynthesis, and sterile neutrinos
text, January 2005

  • Abazajian, Kevork; Bell, Nicole F.; Fuller, George M.
  • Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, DESY, Hamburg
  • DOI: 10.3204/pubdb-2017-09970

Constraining The Universal Lepton Asymmetry
text, January 2008


Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with Independent Neutrino Distribution Functions
text, January 2008


Constraints on neutrino masses from WMAP5 and BBN in the lepton asymmetric universe
text, January 2009


Using Big Bang Nucleosynthesis to Extend CMB Probes of Neutrino Physics
text, January 2010


Extended evolution equations for neutrino propagation in astrophysical and cosmological environments
text, January 2013


Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters
text, January 2013


New Production Mechanism for keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter by Decays of Frozen-In Scalars
text, January 2013


Neutrino Quantum Kinetics
text, January 2013


Neutrino Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure
text, January 2013


Thirty Meter Telescope Detailed Science Case: 2015
text, January 2015


The Primordial Abundance of Deuterium: Ionization correction
preprint, January 2015


Neutrino energy transport in weak decoupling and big bang nucleosynthesis
text, January 2015


A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter
text, January 2016


Neutrino Quantum Kinetic Equations: The Collision Term
text, January 2016


The primordial deuterium abundance of the most metal-poor damped Lyman-alpha system
text, January 2016


Coherent Active-Sterile Neutrino Flavor Transformation in the Early Universe
text, January 2006


Neutrino-Neutrino Interactions and Flavor Mixing in Dense Matter
text, January 2006


Light Element Signatures of Sterile Neutrinos and Cosmological Lepton Numbers
text, January 2006


A New Dark Matter Candidate: Non-thermal Sterile Neutrinos
text, January 1998


Cosmological bounds on neutrino degeneracy improved by flavor oscillations
text, January 2002


Large lepton asymmetry from Q-balls
text, January 2002


Sterile Neutrinos as Dark Matter
text, January 1993


The Small Observed Baryon Asymmetry from a Large Lepton Asymmetry
text, January 1999


Works referencing / citing this record:

Constraints on vacuum energy from structure formation and Nucleosynthesis
journal, March 2017

  • Adams, Fred C.; Alexander, Stephon; Grohs, Evan
  • Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, Vol. 2017, Issue 03
  • DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2017/03/021

Constraints on vacuum energy from structure formation and Nucleosynthesis
text, January 2017

  • C., Adams, Fred; Laura, Mersini-Houghton,; Evan, Grohs,
  • The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
  • DOI: 10.17615/vwak-xf15