Photodisintegration of deuterium and big bang nucleosynthesis

Abstract

Photodisintegration cross sections were measured for deuterium with Laser-Compton scattering γ beams at seven energies near threshold. Combined with the preceding data, R(E)=Naσv for the p(n,γ)D reaction is for the first time evaluated based on experimental data with 6% uncertainty in the energy region relevant to the big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). The result confirms the theoretical evaluation on which the BBN in the precision era relies. ©2003 The American Physical Society.