Big Bang Nucleosynthesis: Accelerator Tests and Can omega /sub B/ Really Be Large

摘要

The first collider tests of cosmological theory are now underway. The number of neutrino families in nature, N/sub nu/, plays a key role in elementary particle physics as well as in the synthesis of the light elements during the early evolution of the Universe. Standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis argues for N/sub nu/ = 3 +- 1. Current limits on N/sub nu/ from the CERN anti pp collider and e sup + e sup - colliders are presented and compared to the cosmological bound. Supernova SN 1987A is also shown to give a limit on N/sub nu/ comparable to current accelerator bounds. All numbers are found to be small thus verifying the Big Bang model at an earlier epoch than is possible by traditional astronomical observations. Future measurements at SLC and LEP will further tighten this argument. Another key prediction of the standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis is that the baryon density must be small ( omega /sub B/ less than or equal to 0.1). Recent attempts to try to subvert this argument using homogeneities of various types are shown to run afoul of the sup 7 Li abundance which has now become a rather firm constraint. 18 refs., 2 figs. (ERA citation 13:016459)