TY - JOUR
T1 - Indirect photofission of light elements from high-energy neutrinos in the early universe
AU - Gratsias, John
AU - Scherrer, Robert J.
AU - Spergel, David N.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank J. Hagelin for helpful comments. J.G. and R.J.S. were supported in part by the Ohio State University Office of Research and Graduate Studies. R.J.S. was supported in part by the Department of Energy and by NASA. D.N.S. was supported in part by the National Science Foundation and by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
PY - 1991/6/20
Y1 - 1991/6/20
N2 - High-energy neutrinos in the early universe can produce electron-positron pairs by annihilating with cosmic background neutrinos. These high-energy electrons thermalize to produce a cascade of lower-energy photons which can fission light elements. We use this process to constrain "invisible" particle decays, in which a decaying particle produces neutrinos but no electromagnetically interacting particles in its decay. These limits are applied to specific neutrino and gravitino decay models.
AB - High-energy neutrinos in the early universe can produce electron-positron pairs by annihilating with cosmic background neutrinos. These high-energy electrons thermalize to produce a cascade of lower-energy photons which can fission light elements. We use this process to constrain "invisible" particle decays, in which a decaying particle produces neutrinos but no electromagnetically interacting particles in its decay. These limits are applied to specific neutrino and gravitino decay models.
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U2 - 10.1016/0370-2693(91)91570-L
DO - 10.1016/0370-2693(91)91570-L
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0001756020
SN - 0370-2693
VL - 262
SP - 298
EP - 302
JO - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
JF - Physics Letters, Section B: Nuclear, Elementary Particle and High-Energy Physics
IS - 2-3
ER -