Reconciling Sterile Neutrinos with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

R. Foot and R. R. Volkas
Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 4350 – Published 11 December 1995
PDFExport Citation

Abstract

We reexamine the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) bounds on the mixing of neutrinos with sterile species. These bounds depend on the assumption that the relic neutrino asymmetry Lν is very small. We show that for Lν large enough (greater than about 105) the standard BBN bounds do not apply. We apply this result to the sterile neutrino solution to the atmospheric neutrino anomaly and show that for Lν>7×105 it is consistent with BBN. The BBN bounds on sterile neutrinos mixing with electron neutrinos can also be weakened considerably.

  • Received 10 August 1995

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.75.4350

©1995 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

R. Foot and R. R. Volkas

  • Research Centre for High Energy Physics, School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3052 Australia

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 75, Iss. 24 — 11 December 1995

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
Author publication services for translation and copyediting assistance advertisement

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×