Nucleosynthesis Constraints on a Massive Gravitino in Neutralino Dark Matter Scenarios

Brian D. Fields; Feng Luo; John Ellis; Keith A. Olive; Richard H. Cyburt; Vassilis C. Spanos

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Nucleosynthesis Constraints on a Massive Gravitino in Neutralino Dark Matter Scenarios

Richard H. Cyburt, John Ellis, Brian D. Fields, Feng Luo, Keith A. Olive, Vassilis C. Spanos

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics · Submitted 28 Jul 2009

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim Discounting this, for m_{1/2} ~ 500 GeV and tan beta = 10 the other light-element abundances impose an upper limit m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma < 3 \times 10^{-12} GeV to < 2 \times 10^{-13} GeV for m_{3/2} = 250 GeV to 1 TeV, which is similar in both the coannihilation and focus-point strips and somewhat weaker for tan beta = 50, particularly for larger m_{1/2}.

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CitationBrian D. Fields, Feng Luo, John Ellis, Keith A. Olive, Richard H. Cyburt, Vassilis C. Spanos. "Nucleosynthesis Constraints on a Massive Gravitino in Neutralino Dark Matter Scenarios." arXiv:0907.5003 (2009). https://pith.science/paper/CJXWVVJX

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The decays of massive gravitinos into neutralino dark matter particles and Standard Model secondaries during or after Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) may alter the primordial light-element abundances. We present here details of a new suite of codes for evaluating such effects, including a new treatment based on PYTHIA of the evolution of showers induced by hadronic decays of massive, unstable particles such as a gravitino. We also develop an analytical treatment of non-thermal hadron propagation in the early universe, and use this to derive analytical estimates for light-element production and in turn on decaying particle lifetimes and abundances. We then consider specifically the case of an unstable massive gravitino within the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM). We present upper limits on its possible primordial abundance before decay for different possible gravitino masses, with CMSSM parameters along strips where the lightest neutralino provides all the astrophysical cold dark matter density. We do not find any CMSSM solution to the cosmological Li7 problem for small m_{3/2}. Discounting this, for m_{1/2} ~ 500 GeV and tan beta = 10 the other light-element abundances impose an upper limit m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma < 3 \times 10^{-12} GeV to < 2 \times 10^{-13} GeV for m_{3/2} = 250 GeV to 1 TeV, which is similar in both the coannihilation and focus-point strips and somewhat weaker for tan beta = 50, particularly for larger m_{1/2}. The constraints also weaken in general for larger m_{3/2}, and for m_{3/2} > 3 TeV we find a narrow range of m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma, at values which increase with m_{3/2}, where the Li7 abundance is marginally compatible with the other light-element abundances.

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What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	The decays of massive gravitinos into neutralino dark matter particles and Standard Model secondaries during or after Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) may alter the primordial light-element abundances.	background 1.00	0.08	0.05	hedged possibility 1.00
s1	We present here details of a new suite of codes for evaluating such effects, including a new treatment based on PYTHIA of the evolution of showers induced by hadronic decays of massive, unstable particles such as a gravitino.	method 0.60	0.95	0.03	asserted 0.99
s2	We also develop an analytical treatment of non-thermal hadron propagation in the early universe, and use this to derive analytical estimates for light-element production and in turn on decaying particle lifetimes and abundances.	method 0.85	0.96	0.04	asserted 1.00
s3	We then consider specifically the case of an unstable massive gravitino within the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM).	contribution 0.88	0.67	0.03	asserted 0.74
s4	We present upper limits on its possible primordial abundance before decay for different possible gravitino masses, with CMSSM parameters along strips where the lightest neutralino provides all the astrophysical cold dark matter density.	result 0.87	0.95	0.21	asserted 1.00
s5	We do not find any CMSSM solution to the cosmological Li7 problem for small m_{3/2}.	result 1.00	0.96	0.19	asserted 1.00
s6	Discounting this, for m_{1/2} ~ 500 GeV and tan beta = 10 the other light-element abundances impose an upper limit m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma < 3 \times 10^{-12} GeV to < 2 \times 10^{-13} GeV for m_{3/2} = 250 GeV to 1 TeV, which is similar in both the coannihilation and focus-point strips and somewhat weaker for tan beta = 50, particularly for larger m_{1/2}.	result 1.00	0.95	0.35	asserted 1.00
s7	The constraints also weaken in general for larger m_{3/2}, and for m_{3/2} > 3 TeV we find a narrow range of m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma, at values which increase with m_{3/2}, where the Li7 abundance is marginally compatible with the other light-element abundances.	result 1.00	0.96	0.19	asserted 0.97

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Original abstract

The decays of massive gravitinos into neutralino dark matter particles and Standard Model secondaries during or after Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) may alter the primordial light-element abundances. We present here details of a new suite of codes for evaluating such effects, including a new treatment based on PYTHIA of the evolution of showers induced by hadronic decays of massive, unstable particles such as a gravitino. We also develop an analytical treatment of non-thermal hadron propagation in the early universe, and use this to derive analytical estimates for light-element production and in turn on decaying particle lifetimes and abundances. We then consider specifically the case of an unstable massive gravitino within the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM). We present upper limits on its possible primordial abundance before decay for different possible gravitino masses, with CMSSM parameters along strips where the lightest neutralino provides all the astrophysical cold dark matter density. We do not find any CMSSM solution to the cosmological Li7 problem for small m_{3/2}. Discounting this, for m_{1/2} ~ 500 GeV and tan beta = 10 the other light-element abundances impose an upper limit m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma < 3 \times 10^{-12} GeV to < 2 \times 10^{-13} GeV for m_{3/2} = 250 GeV to 1 TeV, which is similar in both the coannihilation and focus-point strips and somewhat weaker for tan beta = 50, particularly for larger m_{1/2}. The constraints also weaken in general for larger m_{3/2}, and for m_{3/2} > 3 TeV we find a narrow range of m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma, at values which increase with m_{3/2}, where the Li7 abundance is marginally compatible with the other light-element abundances.

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47 later papers cite it

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Our treatments of the hadronic and electromagnetic components of the showers induced by heavy-particle decays follow those in [ref] .

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At high energies $1$ GeV, two other loss mechanisms are important, and our treatment here closely follows that of [ref] .

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