New results on catalyzed BBN with a long-lived negatively-charged massive particle

TL;DR

This paper presents improved big bang nucleosynthesis calculations involving a long-lived negatively charged massive particle, showing it can still explain lithium abundances and exploring its implications for dark matter and particle decay.

Contribution

It introduces an enhanced nuclear reaction network for X- catalyzed BBN, demonstrating the viability of the model with new reaction rates and analyzing dark matter decay scenarios.

Findings

X- particles can explain observed lithium abundances.

Neutral X-nuclei do not significantly alter light-element abundances.

Only weak decay of X- can reconcile lithium observations with dark matter constraints.

Abstract

It has been proposed that the apparent discrepancies between the inferred primordial abundances of 6Li and 7Li and the predictions of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) can be resolved by the existence of a negatively-charged massive unstable supersymmetric particle (X-) during the BBN epoch. Here, we present new BBN calculations with an X- particle utilizing an improved nuclear reaction network including captures of nuclei by the particle, nuclear reactions and beta-decays of normal nuclei and nuclei bound to the X- particles (X-nuclei), and new reaction rates derived from recent rigorous quantum many-body dynamical calculations. We find that this is still a viable model to explain the observed 6Li and 7Li abundances. However, contrary to previous results, neutral X-nuclei cannot significantly affect the BBN light-element abundances. We also show that with the new rates the production of heavier nuclei is suppressed and there is no signature on abundances of nuclei heavier than Be in the X--particle catalyzed BBN model as has been previously proposed. We also consider the version of this model whereby the X- particle decays into the present cold dark matter. We analyze the this paradigm in light of the recent constraints on the dark-matter mass deduced from the possible detected events in the CDMS-II experiment. We conclude that based upon the inferred range for the dark-matter mass, only X- decay via the weak interaction can achieve the desired 7Li destruction while also reproducing the observed 6Li abundance.