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Results for “Big Bang nucleosynthesis”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

R -parity violation axiogenesis

We show that the rotation of the QCD axion field, aided by B–L violation from supersymmetric R-parity violating couplings, can yield the observed baryon abundance. Strong sphaleron processes transfer the angular momentum of the axion field into a quark chiral asymmetry, which R-parity violating couplings convert to the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. We focus on the case of dimensionless R-parity violating couplings with textures motivated by grand unified theories and comment on more general scenarios. The axion decay constant and mass spectrum of supersymmetric particles are constrained by Big Bang nucleosynthesis, proton decay from the R-parity violation, and successful thermalization of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking field. Axion dark matter may be produced by the axion rotation via the kinetic misalignment mechanism for axion decay constants below 10 10 GeV, or by the conventional misalignment mechanism for 10 11-12 GeV. The viable parameter region can be probed by proton decay and axion searches. This scenario may also have connections with collider experiments, including searches for long-lived particles, and observations of gravitational waves.

Beyond Standard Model↗
DOE OSTI2022

BBN photodisintegration constraints on gravitationally produced vector bosons

Gravitational production of massive particles due to cosmic expansion can be significant during the inflationary and reheating period of the Universe. If the particle also has non-gravitational interactions that do not significantly affect its production, numerous observational probes open up, including cosmological probes. In this work, we focus on the gravitational production of light vector bosons that couple feebly to the Standard Model (SM) particles. Due to the very feeble coupling, the light vector bosons never reach thermal equilibrium, and if the Hubble scale at the end of inflation is above 10 8 GeV, the gravitational production can overwhelm the thermal production via the freeze-in mechanism by many orders of magnitude. As a result, much stronger constraints from the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) can be placed on the lifetime and mass of the vector bosons compared to the scenario where only thermal production is considered. As an example, we study the sub-GeV scale dark photons, which couple to the SM only through kinetic mixing, and derive constraints on the mass and kinetic mixing parameter of the dark photon from the photodisintegration effects on the light element abundances relevant at the end of the BBN when the cosmic age was around 10 4 s.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Stochastic gravitational wave background from global cosmic strings

Global cosmic strings are generically predicted in particle physics beyond the Standard Model, e.g., a post-inflationary global U(1) symmetry breaking which may associate with axion-like dark matter. Here, we demonstrate that although subdominant to Goldstone emission, gravitational waves (GWs) radiated from global strings can be observable with current/future GW detectors. The frequency spectrum of such GWs is also shown to be a powerful tool to probe the Hubble expansion rate of the Universe at times prior to the Big Bang nucleosynthesis where the standard cosmology has yet to be tested.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dark matter is the new BBN

Measurements of the primordial element abundances provide us with an important probe of our universe’s early thermal history, allowing us to constrain the expansion rate and composition of our universe as early as ~ 1 s after the Big Bang. Prior to this time, we have essentially no empirical information on which to base any such claims. In this paper, we imagine a future time in which we have not only detected the particles that make up the dark matter, but have measured their mass and annihilation cross section with reasonable precision. In analogy to the light element abundances, the dark matter abundance in this scenario could be used to study and constrain the expansion rate and composition of our universe at the time of dark matter freeze out, which for a standard thermal relic occurs at T f ~ m χ /20, corresponding to t ~ 4 x 10 -10 s x (TeV/m χ ) 2 , many orders of magnitude prior to the onset of Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Here we consider how such measurements could be used to constrain scenarios which feature exotic forms of radiation or matter, a ultralight scalar, or modifications to gravity, each of which have the potential to be much more powerfully probed with dark matter than with the light element abundances.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cosmological constraints on dark matter interactions with ordinary matter

Dark matter interactions with electrons or protons during the early Universe leave imprints on the cosmic microwave background and the matter power spectrum, and can be probed through cosmological and astrophysical observations. These interactions lead to momentum and heat exchange between the ordinary and dark matter components, which in turn results in a transfer of pressure from the ordinary to the dark matter. Here, we explore these interactions using a diverse suite of data: cosmic microwave background anisotropies, baryon acoustic oscillations, the Lyman-α forest, and the abundance of Milky-Way subhalos. We derive constraints using model-independent parameterizations of the dark matter–electron and dark matter–proton interaction cross sections and map these constraints onto concrete dark matter models. Our constraints are complementary to other probes of dark matter interactions with ordinary matter, such as direct detection, big bang nucleosynthesis, various astrophysical systems, and accelerator-based experiments. They exclude sufficiently large cross sections for a large range of dark matter masses, which cannot be accessed by direct-detection experiments due to the overburden from the Earth’s atmosphere or crust.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Planck 2018 results. VI. Cosmological parameters

In this paper, we present cosmological parameter results from the final full-mission Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies, combining information from the temperature and polarization maps and the lensing reconstruction. Compared to the 2015 results, improved measurements of large-scale polarization allow the reionization optical depth to be measured with higher precision, leading to significant gains in the precision of other correlated parameters. Improved modelling of the small-scale polarization leads to more robust constraints on many parameters, with residual modelling uncertainties estimated to affect them only at the 0.5 σ level. We find good consistency with the standard spatially-flat 6-parameter ΛCDM cosmology having a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations (denoted “base ΛCDM” in this paper), from polarization, temperature, and lensing, separately and in combination. A combined analysis gives dark matter density Ω c h 2 = 0.120 ± 0.001, baryon density Ω b h 2 = 0.0224 ± 0.0001, scalar spectral index n s = 0.965 ± 0.004, and optical depth τ = 0.054 ± 0.007 (in this abstract we quote 68% confidence regions on measured parameters and 95% on upper limits). The angular acoustic scale is measured to 0.03% precision, with 100 θ * = 1.0411 ± 0.0003. These results are only weakly dependent on the cosmological model and remain stable, with somewhat increased errors, in many commonly considered extensions. Assuming the base-ΛCDM cosmology, the inferred (model-dependent) late-Universe parameters are: Hubble constant H 0 = (67.4 ± 0.5) km s –1 Mpc –1 ; matter density parameter Ω m = 0.315 ± 0.007; and matter fluctuation amplitude σ 8 = 0.811 ± 0.006. We find no compelling evidence for extensions to the base-ΛCDM model. Combining with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements (and considering single-parameter extensions) we constrain the effective extra relativistic degrees of freedom to be N eff = 2.99 ± 0.17, in agreement with the Standard Model prediction N eff = 3.046, and find that the neutrino mass is tightly constrained to Σ m ν < 0.12 eV. The CMB spectra continue to prefer higher lensing amplitudes than predicted in base ΛCDM at over 2 σ , which pulls some parameters that affect the lensing amplitude away from the ΛCDM model; however, this is not supported by the lensing reconstruction or (in models that also change the background geometry) BAO data. The joint constraint with BAO measurements on spatial curvature is consistent with a flat universe, Ω K = 0.001 ± 0.002. Also combining with Type Ia supernovae (SNe), the dark-energy equation of state parameter is measured to be w 0 = –1.03 ± 0.03, consistent with a cosmological constant. We find no evidence for deviations from a purely power-law primordial spectrum, and combining with data from BAO, BICEP2, and Keck Array data, we place a limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r 0.002 < 0.06. Standard big-bang nucleosynthesis predictions for the helium and deuterium abundances for the base-ΛCDM cosmology are in excellent agreement with observations. The Planck base-ΛCDM results are in good agreement with BAO, SNe, and some galaxy lensing observations, but in slight tension with the Dark Energy Survey’s combined-probe results including galaxy clustering (which prefers lower fluctuation amplitudes or matter density parameters), and in significant, 3.6 σ , tension with local measurements of the Hubble constant (which prefer a higher value). Simple model extensions that can partially resolve these tensions are not favoured by the Planck data.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Vacuum Cherenkov Detector (VCD) for γ-ray measurements in inertial confinement fusion experiments

Inertial confinement fusion experiments at both the National Ignition Facility (NIF) and the Laboratory for Laser Energetics OMEGA laser facility currently utilize Cherenkov detectors, with fused silica as the Cherenkov medium. At the NIF, the Quartz Cherenkov Detectors improve the precision of neutron time-of-flight measurements; and at OMEGA, the Diagnostic for Areal Density provides measurements of capsule shell areal densities. An inherent property of fused silica is the radiator’s relatively low energy threshold for Cherenkov photon production (E threshold < 1 MeV), making it advantageous over gas-based Cherenkov detectors for experiments requiring low-energy γ detection. The Vacuum Cherenkov Detector (VCD) has been specifically designed for efficient detection of low energy γ’s. Its primary use is in implosion experiments, which will study reactions relevant to stellar and big-bang nucleosynthesis, such as T( 4 He,γ) 7 Li, 4 He( 3 He,γ) 7 Be, and 12 C(p,γ) 13 N. Further, the VCD is compatible with LLE’s standard Ten-Inch Manipulator diagnostic insertion module. This work will outline the design and characterization of the VCD as well as provide results from recent experiments conducted at the OMEGA laser facility.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Superstring-inspired particle cosmology: inflation, neutrino masses, leptogenesis, dark matter & the SUSY scale

We develop a string-inspired model for particle cosmology, based on a flipped SU(5)×U(1) gauge group formulated in a no-scale supergravity framework. The model realizes Starobinsky-like inflation, which we assume to be followed by strong reheating, with the GUT symmetry being broken subsequently by a light ‘flaton’ field whose decay generates a second stage of reheating. We discuss the production of gravitinos and the non-thermal contribution made by their decays to the density of cold dark matter, which is assumed to be provided by the lightest neutralino. We also discuss the masses of light and heavy neutrinos and leptogenesis. As discussed previously, a key r&ocirc;le is played by a superpotential coupling between the inflaton, matter and GUT Higgs fields, called λ 6 . We scan over possible values of λ 6 , exploring the correlations between the possible values of observables. We emphasize that the release of entropy during the GUT transition allows large regions of supersymmetry-breaking parameter space that would otherwise lead to severe overdensity of dark matter. Furthermore, we find that the Big Bang nucleosynthesis lower limit on the reheating temperature of ~ 1 MeV restricts the supersymmetry-breaking scale to a range O(10) TeV that is consistent with the absence of supersymmetric particles at the LHC.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Efficient cosmological analysis of the SDSS/BOSS data from the Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure

The precision of the cosmological data allows us to accurately approximate the predictions for cosmological observables by Taylor expanding up to a low order the dependence on the cosmological parameters around a reference cosmology. By applying this observation to the redshift-space one-loop galaxy power spectrum of the Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure, we analyze the BOSS DR12 data by scanning over all the parameters of ΛCDM cosmology with massive neutrinos. Furthermore, we impose several sets of priors, the widest of which is just a Big Bang Nucleosynthesis prior on the current fractional energy density of baryons, Ω b h 2 , and a bound on the sum of neutrino masses to be less than 0.9 eV. In this case we measure the primordial amplitude of the power spectrum, A s , the abundance of matter, Ω m , the Hubble parameter, H 0 , and the tilt of the primordial power spectrum, n s , to about 19%, 5.7%, 2.2% and 7.3% respectively, obtaining ln (10 10 A s )=2.91± 0.19, Ω m =0.314± 0.018, H 0 =68.7± 1.5 km/(s Mpc) and n s =0.979± 0.071 at 68% confidence level.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cosmological dependence of resonantly produced sterile neutrinos

The detection of a sterile neutrino could constitute the first observation of a particle that could have been produced before Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), and could provide information about the yet untested pre-BBN era. The cosmological evolution in this era could be drastically different than typically assumed in what constitutes the standard cosmology, as happens in a variety of motivated particle models. In this work we assess the sensitivity to different pre-BBN cosmologies in which entropy is conserved of 0.01 eV to 1 MeV mass sterile neutrinos produced in the early Universe via resonant active-sterile oscillations, which requires a large lepton asymmetry. We identify mass ranges where it is possible to have two populations of the same sterile neutrino, one with a colder and one with a hotter momentum spectra, which is in principle an observable effect. Furthermore, we show the regions in mass and mixing where fully resonant production (i.e. simultaneously coherent and adiabatic) can occur. Here, we find that in several of the cosmologies we consider, including the standard one, for a lepton asymmetry larger than ~10 –4 fully resonantly produced sterile neutrinos in the eV-mass range can evade all cosmological constraints.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Common origin of warm dark matter and dark radiation

We consider a cosmological scenario where a relativistic particle and a stable massive particle are simultaneously produced from the decay of a late-decaying particle after Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis but before matter-radiation equality. The relativistic and massive particles behave as dark radiation and warm dark matter, respectively. Due to a common origin, the warmness and abundances are closely related. We refer to the models that lead to such a scenario as Common Origin of Warm and Relativistic Decay Products (COWaRD). We show that COWaRD predicts a correlation between the amount of dark radiation and suppression of the large scale structure, which can be tested in future precision cosmology observations. Furthermore, we demonstrate that COWaRD is realized, as an example, in a class of supersymmetric axion models and that future observations by the next generation Cosmic Microwave Background, Large Scale Structure, and 21-cm surveys can reveal the structure of the theory.

cosmology of theories beyond the SM↗
DOE OSTI2021

Possible hints of sterile neutrinos in recent measurements of the Hubble parameter

Local Universe observations find a value of the Hubble constant H 0 that is larger than the value inferred from the Cosmic Microwave Background and other early Universe measurements, assuming known physics and the ΛCDM cosmological model. We show that additional radiation in active neutrinos produced just before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis by an unstable sterile neutrino with mass m s = O(10) MeV can alleviate this discrepancy. Furthermore, the necessary masses and couplings of the sterile neutrino, assuming it mixes primarily with ν τ and/or ν μ neutrinos, are within reach of Super-Kamiokande as well as upcoming laboratory experiments such as NA62 and DUNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Solar mass primordial black holes in moduli dominated universe

In this report we explore the prospect of producing primordial black holes around the solar mass region during an early matter domination epoch. The early matter-dominated epoch can arise when a moduli field comes to dominate the energy density of the Universe prior to big bang nucleosynthesis. The absence of radiation pressure during a matter-dominated epoch enhances primordial black hole formation from the gravitational collapse of primordial density fluctuations. In particular, we find that primordial black holes are produced in the 0.1 - 10M ⊙ mass range with a favorable choice of parameters in the theory. However, they cannot explain all of the merger events detected by the LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave search. In such a case, primordial black holes form about 4% of the total dark matter abundance, of which 95% belongs to the LIGO/Virgo consistent mass range. The rest of the dark matter could be in the form of particles that are produced from the decay of the moduli field during reheating.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Smallest remnants of early matter domination

The evolution of the universe prior to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis could have gone through a phase of early matter domination which enhanced the growth of small-scale dark matter structure. If this period was long enough, self-gravitating objects formed prior to reheating. Here, we study the evolution of these dense early halos through reheating. At the end of early matter domination, the early halos undergo rapid expansion and eventually eject their matter. We find that this process washes out structure on scales much larger than naively expected from the size of the original halos. We compute the density profiles of the early halo remnants and use them to construct late-time power spectra that include these non-linear effects. We evolve the resulting power spectrum to estimate the properties of microhalos that would form after matter-radiation equality. Surprisingly, cosmologies with a short period of early matter domination lead to an earlier onset of microhalo formation compared to those with a long period. In either case, dark matter structure formation begins much earlier than in the standard cosmology, with most dark matter bound in microhalos in the late universe.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cannibalism's lingering imprint on the matter power spectrum

The early universe may have contained internally thermalized dark sectors that were decoupled from the Standard Model. In such scenarios, the relic dark thermal bath, composed of the lightest particle in the dark sector, can give rise to an epoch of early matter domination prior to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, which has a potentially observable impact on the smallest dark matter structures. This lightest dark particle can easily and generically have number-changing self-interactions that give rise to “cannibal” behavior. We consider cosmologies where an initially sub-dominant cannibal species comes to temporarily drive the expansion of the universe, and we provide a simple map between the particle properties of the cannibal species and the key features of the enhanced dark matter perturbation growth in such cosmologies. Finally, we further demonstrate that cannibal self-interactions can determine the small-scale cutoff in the matter power spectrum even when the cannibal self-interactions freeze out prior to cannibal domination.

cosmological perturbation theory↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cosmological dependence of sterile neutrino dark matter with self-interacting neutrinos

Unexplored interactions of neutrinos could be the key to understanding the nature of the dark matter (DM). In particular, active neutrinos with new self-interactions can produce keV-mass sterile neutrinos that account for the whole of the DM through the Dodelson-Widrow mechanism for a large range of active-sterile mixing values. This production typically occurs before Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) in a yet uncharted era of the Universe. We assess how the mixing range for keV-mass sterile neutrino DM is affected by the uncertainty in the early Universe pre-BBN cosmology. This is particularly relevant for identifying the viable parameter space of sterile neutrino searches allowed by all astrophysical limits, as well as for cosmology, since the detection of a sterile neutrino could constitute the first observation of a particle providing information about the pre-BBN epoch. Here, we find that the combined uncertainties in the early Universe cosmology and neutrino interactions significantly expand the allowed parameter space for sterile neutrinos that can constitute the whole of the DM.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Implications of the non-observation of 6 Li in halo stars for the primordial 7 Li problem

The primordial Lithium Problem is intimately connected to the assumption that the 7 Li abundance observed in metal-poor halo stars is unchanged from its primordial value, which lies significantly below the predictions of standard big-bang nucleosynthesis. Two key lines of evidence have argued that these stars have not significantly depleted their initial (mostly primordial) 7 Li: i) the lack of dispersion in Li abundance measurements at low metallicity (and high surface temperature); and ii) the detection of the more fragile 6 Li isotope in at least two halo stars. The purported 6 Li detections were in good agreement with predictions from cosmic-ray nucleosynthesis which is responsible for the origin of 6 Li. This concordance left little room for 6 Li depletion, and the apparent 6 Li survival implied that 7 Li largely evaded destruction, because stellar interiors destroy 6 Li more vigorously then than 7 Li. Recent (re)-observations of halo stars challenge the evidence against 7 Li depletion: i) lithium elemental abundances now show significant dispersion, and ii) sensitive 6 Li searches now reveal only upper limits to the 6 Li/ 7 Li ratio. We discuss the consequences of these 6 Li non-detections on the primordial 7 Li Problem, Galactic cosmic-ray nucleosynthesis, and the question of differential depletion of Li in stars. The tight new 6 Li upper limits generally fall far below the predictions of cosmic-ray nucleosynthesis, implying that substantial 6 Li depletion has occurred — by factors up to 50. We show that in stars with 6 Li limits and thus lower bounds on 6 Li depletion, an equal amount of 7 Li depletion is more than sufficient to resolve the primordial 7 Li Problem. This picture is consistent with well-studied stellar models in which 7 Li is less depleted than 6 Li, and strengthen the case that the Lithium Problem has an astrophysical solution. We conclude by suggesting future observations that could test these ideas.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Recycled dark matter

Here, we outline a new production mechanism for dark matter that we dub “recycling”: dark sector particles are kinematically trapped in the false vacuum during a dark phase transition; the false pockets collapse into primordial black holes (PBHs), which ultimately evaporate before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) to reproduce the dark sector particles. The requirement that all PBHs evaporate prior to BBN necessitates high scale phase transitions and hence high scale masses for the dark sector particles in the true vacuum. Our mechanism is therefore particularly suited for the production of ultra heavy dark matter (UHDM) with masses above ~10 12 GeV. The correct relic density of UHDM is obtained because of the exponential suppression of the false pocket number density. Recycled UHDM has several novel features: the dark sector today consists of multiple decoupled species that were once in thermal equilibrium and the PBH formation stage has extended mass functions whose shape can be controlled by IR operators coupling the dark and visible sectors.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗