Heavy Sterile Neutrinos, Primordial Nucleosynthesis, and the Evolution of the Early Universe

ORAL

Abstract

We examine the effect on the evolution of the early universe and on the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) process of massive sterile neutrinos (rest masses $<1\,{\rm MeV}$) which mix in vacuum with ordinary active neutrinos. We find that light element BBN considerations can provide probes of this sector of neutrino physics which are complementary to or even extend those based on laboratory measurements.

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Authors

  • Christel Smith

    University of California, San Diego

  • George Fuller

    University of California, San Diego

  • Chad Kishimoto

    University of California, San Diego

  • Alexander Kusenko

    University of California, Los Angeles

  • Kalliopi Petraki

    University of California, Los Angeles