Published March 2009 | Version v1
Journal article

Primordial nucleosynthesis: From precision cosmology to fundamental physics

  • 1. INAF, Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri, Largo E. Fermi 5, I-50125 Firenze (Italy)
  • 2. Dip. Scienze Fisiche, Universita di Napoli Federico II and INFN, Sez. di Napoli, Complesso Univ. Monte S. Angelo, Via Cintia, I-80126 Napoli (Italy)
  • 3. Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (CSIC-Universitat de Valencia), Ed. Institutos de Investigacion, Apartado de Correos 22085, E-46071 Valencia (Spain)
  • 4. Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510-0500 (United States)

Description

We present an up-to-date review of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN). We discuss the main improvements which have been achieved in the past two decades on the overall theoretical framework, summarize the impact of new experimental results on nuclear reaction rates, and critically re-examine the astrophysical determinations of light nuclei abundances. We report then on how BBN can be used as a powerful test of new physics, constraining a wide range of ideas and theoretical models of fundamental interactions beyond the standard model of strong and electroweak forces and Einstein's general relativity.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physrep.2009.02.002

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1016/j.physrep.2009.02.002;
arXiv
arXiv:0809.0631v2;
PII
S0370-1573(09)00037-4;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physics Reports
Journal Volume
472
Journal Issue
1-6
Journal Page Range
p. 1-76
ISSN
0370-1573
CODEN
PRPLCM

INIS

Optional Information

Copyright
Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.