Abstract
The abundance calculated in BBN with the baryon-to-photon ratio fixed from fits to the CMB power spectrum is inconsistent with the observed lithium abundances on the surface of metal-poor halo stars. Previous cosmological solutions proposed to resolve this problem include photon cooling (possibly via the Bose-Einstein condensation of a scalar particle) or the decay of a long-lived particle (possibly the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle). In this paper we reanalyze these solutions, both separately and in concert. We also introduce the possibility of a primordial magnetic field (PMF) into these models. We constrain the particles and the PMF parameters by the observed light element abundances using a likelihood analysis to show that the inclusion of all three possibilities leads to an optimum solution to the lithium problem. We deduce allowed ranges for the particle parameters and energy density in the PMF that can solve problem.
- Received 28 February 2014
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.90.023001
© 2014 American Physical Society