Speaker
Haidar Esseili
(University of Oregon)
Description
We calculate the effects of a light, very weakly-coupled boson $X$ arising from a spontaneously broken $U(1)_{B-L}$ symmetry on $\Delta N_{\rm eff}$ as measured by the CMB and $Y_p$ from BBN. Our focus is the mass range $1 \; {\rm eV} \, \lesssim m_X \lesssim 100 \; {\rm MeV}$. We find $U(1)_{B-L}$ is more strongly constrained by $\Delta N_{\rm eff}$ than previously considered. While some of the parameter space has complementary constraints from stellar cooling, supernova emission, and terrestrial experiments, we find future CMB observatories including Simons Observatory and CMB-S4 can access regions of mass and coupling space not probed by any other method.
Primary authors
Graham Kribs
Haidar Esseili
(University of Oregon)
