Constraining antimatter domains in the early universe with big bang nucleosynthesis.
We consider the effect of a small-scale matter-antimatter domain structure on big bang nucleosynthesis and place upper limits on the amount of antimatter in the early universe. For small domains, which annihilate before nucleosynthesis, this limit comes from underproduction of 4He. For larger domains, the limit comes from 3He overproduction. Since most of the 3He from &pmacr; 4He annihilation are themselves annihilated, the main source of primordial 3He is the photodisintegration of 4He by the electromagnetic cascades initiated by the annihilation.
Kurki-Suonio
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Helsinki Institute of Physics and Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 9, FIN-00014 Helsinki, Finland. Hannu.Kuriki-Suonio@helsinki.fi
Sihvola
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D001256:Astronomy / Q000379:methods; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006371:Helium; D010777:Photochemistry
D006371:Helium