Pith. sign in

REVIEW 23 cited by

Probing Physics Beyond the Standard Model: Limits from BBN and the CMB Independently and Combined

Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.

This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.

SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event

T0 review · schema-true

One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.

pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp

arxiv 2207.13133 v2 pith:YLDP2WWX submitted 2022-07-26 astro-ph.CO hep-ph

classification astro-ph.COhep-ph
keywords limitscosmicphysicsprecisionallowedbackgroundchangescombined
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
0 comments
abstract

We present new Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) limits on the cosmic expansion rate or relativistic energy density, quantified via the number $N_\nu$ of equivalent neutrino species. We use the latest light element observations, neutron mean lifetime, and update our evaluation for the nuclear rates $d+d \rightarrow He3 + n$ and $d+d \rightarrow H3 + p$. Combining this result with the independent constraints from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) yields tight limits on new physics that perturbs $N_\nu$ and $\eta$ prior to cosmic nucleosynthesis: a joint BBN+CMB analysis gives $N_\nu = 2.898 \pm 0.141$, resulting in $N_\nu < 3.180$ at $2\sigma$. We apply these limits to a wide variety of new physics scenarios including right-handed neutrinos, dark radiation, and a stochastic gravitational wave background. We also search for limits on potential {\em changes} in $N_\nu$ and/or the baryon-to-photon ratio $\eta$ between the two epochs. The present data place strong constraints on the allowed changes in $N_\nu$ between BBN and CMB decoupling; for example, we find $-0.708 < N_\nu^{\rm CMB}-N_\nu^{\rm BBN} < 0.328$ in the case where $\eta$ and the primordial helium mass fraction $Y_p$ are unchanged between the two epochs; we also give limits on the allowed variations in $\eta$ or in $(\eta,N_\nu)$ jointly. Looking to the future, we forecast the tightened precision for $N_\nu$ arising from both CMB Stage 4 measurements as well as improvements in astronomical \he4 measurements. We find that CMB-S4 combined with present BBN and light element observation precision can give $\sigma(N_\nu) \simeq 0.03$. Such future precision would reveal the expected effect of neutrino heating ($N_{\rm eff}-3=0.044$) of the CMB during BBN, and would be near the level to reveal any particle species ever in thermal equilibrium with the standard model.

Discussion (0). Continue with ORCID to comment.

Forward citations

Cited by 23 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Spin-Dependent Scattering of Sub-GeV Dark Matter: Models and Constraints

    hep-ph 2025-06 conditional novelty 8.0 of 10

    A new calculation of spin-dependent sub-GeV dark matter phonon scattering shows only the light scalar mediator model retains testable parameter space, conditional on the supernova trapping window.

  2. Universal Seesaw Leptogenesis

    hep-ph 2025-12 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    Leptogenesis can proceed from single-generation gauge-singlet mediator decays in a Universal Seesaw model if parity is broken in the neutrino sector; the lightest right-handed neutrino is a sub-eV dark-radiation relic.

  3. Freeze-in leptogenesis with sterile neutrino self-interactions

    hep-ph 2024-12 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    An off-diagonal thermal potential from sterile neutrino self-interactions generates the baryon asymmetry at lower order in the Yukawa coupling, boosting it and relaxing the mass degeneracy required in vanilla ARS lept...

  4. Impact of dimension-8 SMEFT operators on baryogenesis via sphaleron decoupling

    hep-ph 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Five of seven CP-violating dimension-8 SMEFT operators can individually reproduce the observed baryon asymmetry, with effective new-physics scales near 3-7 TeV.

  5. Post-Inflationary Constraints on Nonminimally Coupled Quintessential Inflation

    gr-qc 2026-08 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Gravitational-wave constraints on the reheating temperature rule out single-exponential nonminimally coupled quintessential inflation and require a double-exponential coupling that predicts thawing dark energy with w0...

  6. Gravitational Waves as a Source of Large-Scale White Noise: New Constraints

    astro-ph.CO 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A gravitational-wave background produced before z≈10^8 at pulsar-timing-array amplitudes would create observable white noise in the CMB, so such early backgrounds are ruled out.

  7. Gravitational waves from self-resonance during reheating with a quantum-corrected inflaton potential

    hep-ph 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A Coleman-Weinberg correction that cancels the inflaton's quadratic term at the potential minimum triggers quartic self-resonance and a peaked GW background at 10^8-10^10 Hz; a negative quadratic term instead gives a ...

  8. Magnetically assisted primordial scalar perturbations: Scalar-Induced Gravitational Waves

    astro-ph.CO 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    PMF-sourced scalar perturbations during a kination-like reheating can induce a gravitational-wave background that dominates over the direct PMF tensor signal and may be detectable at mHz-kHz frequencies.

  9. Beyond thermal approximations: Precise cosmological bounds on Axion-Like Particles

    astro-ph.CO 2026-02 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Solving the momentum-dependent Boltzmann equation and propagating the exact non-thermal ALP spectrum into CMB analyses yields 95% limits f_a>1.63e6 GeV (e), 9.41e6 GeV (mu), 8.06e4 GeV (tau), and g_a_gamma<1.98e-8 GeV^-1.

  10. Baryon-dark matter coincidence in Randall-Sundrum Model

    hep-ph 2026-01 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Graviton- and radion-mediated freeze-in in a Randall-Sundrum model can match the observed dark matter relic abundance, and TeV-scale resonant leptogenesis through the same portals can match the observed baryon asymmet...

  11. Freeze-in Production of Non-Abelian Millicharged Vector Dark Matter

    hep-ph 2025-12 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A hidden SU(2) gauge sector broken to a massless dark photon can produce vector dark matter via freeze-in with portal couplings near 10^-7.

  12. Ultralight Dark Matter from the Edge of Field Space

    hep-ph 2025-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    A scalar with hard field-space boundaries — a 'wallion' — is a viable ultralight dark-matter candidate whose exponentially small, radiatively stable mass and saturated relic density at large misalignment also suppress...

  13. Resonant Loop Interferometers for High-Frequency Gravitational Waves

    gr-qc 2025-10 reject novelty 6.0 of 10

    A closed-loop optical resonator is proposed whose sensitivity peaks at sharp resonances, potentially reaching the cosmological BBN bound at kilohertz frequencies.

  14. Bounds and detection of MeV-scale dark matter annihilation to neutrinos

    hep-ph 2025-06 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Relic dark matter annihilation into neutrinos after neutrino decoupling adds a nonthermal contribution to the effective number of neutrino species, which can exclude large annihilation cross sections for MeV-scale dar...

  15. The Bearable Inhomogeneity of the Baryon Asymmetry

    hep-ph 2025-05 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    BBN deuterium abundances exclude baryon-to-photon inhomogeneities above roughly 26-28% RMS, probing physics at temperatures up to a few TeV.

  16. Aspects of Gravitational Portals and Freeze-in during Reheating

    hep-ph 2024-12 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    During reheating, freeze-in from the gravitationally produced radiation bath can dominate the dark matter relic density for DM masses above the reheating temperature, with k- and n-dependent constraints.

  17. Preheating Axions in String Cosmology

    hep-th 2024-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Preheating of closed-string axions in fibre inflation can overproduce dark matter, yielding new upper bounds on the axion mass and constraints on model parameters.

  18. Low-scale leptogenesis in the scotogenic model: spectator processes and benchmark points

    hep-ph 2024-11 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    TeV-scale leptogenesis in the scotogenic model is viable with proper treatment of spectator processes, yielding benchmark points that reproduce the baryon asymmetry and predict observable CLFV rates.

  19. Quantum corrections as a Bound for Detecting Self-Interacting Ultralight Dark Matter

    hep-ph 2026-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    Radiative stability of the SIULDM potential under Yukawa couplings to SM fermions yields upper bounds on y that already intersect the projected reach of optical and nuclear clocks.

  20. Cogenesis of baryon and lepton number asymmetries matching the EMPRESS Data

    hep-ph 2025-09 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    A U(1)_{B-L} flaton decay chain can produce both a large positive electron-neutrino asymmetry and the observed baryon asymmetry, with values matching EMPRESS and BBN for a symmetry-breaking scale around 10^10 GeV.

  21. Light nuclei under magnetic field and the lithium problem

    nucl-th 2025-09 reject novelty 5.0 of 10

    Magnetic fields linearly change the exponential decay rate of light-nucleus wave functions, which the authors argue could enhance low-energy fusion reactions and, at implausibly high field strengths, affect the Big Ba...

  22. Flipped Rotating Axion Non-minimally Coupled to Gravity: Baryogenesis and Dark Matter

    hep-ph 2025-02 conditional novelty 4.0 of 10

    A rotating axion, kicked into motion by a sign flip in its gravitational effective potential during kination, can co-generate baryon asymmetry and dark matter in a Majoron seesaw model.

  23. The First Particles

    hep-ph 2025-01 unverdicted

    No new result: the paper is an expository review of reheating, electroweak baryogenesis, and leptogenesis in early universe cosmology.

Pith tools