Primordial Nucleosynthesis with Varying Fundamental Constants: A Semianalytical Approach

Abstract

Using the semi-analytic method proposed by \citet{Esma91} we calculate the abundances of the light elements produced during primordial nucleosynthesis assuming that the gauge coupling constants of the fundamental interactions may vary. We analyze the dependence of the nucleon masses, nuclear binding energies and cross sections involved in the calculation of the abundances with the fundamental constants assuming the chiral limit of QCD. The abundances of light elements as a function of the fundamental constants are obtained. Finally, using the observational data of $\De$, $\Het$, $\He$ and $\Li$ we estimate constraints on the variation of the fundamental constants between the primordial nucleosynthesis and the present. All observational abundances and the WMAP estimate of the baryon density, can be fitted to the theoretical predictions with varying coupling constants. The possible systematic errors in the observational data, precludes from stronger conclusions.