Non-thermal processes in standard big bang nucleosynthesis: I. In-flight nuclear reactions induced by energetic protons

The standard model of big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) relies on a nuclear reaction network operating with thermal reactivities for Maxwellian plasma. In the primordial plasma, however, a number of non-thermal processes triggered by energetic particles of various origins can take place. In the present work we examine in-flight nuclear reactions induced in the plasma by MeV protons generated in D(d, p)T and 3He(d, p)4He fusions. We particularly focus on several low threshold endoergic processes. These are reactions omitted in the standard network—proton-induced break-ups of loosely bound D, 7Li, 7Be nuclei—and the 3H(p, n)3He charge-exchange reaction important for the interconversion of A = 3 nuclei in the early universe. It is found that the break-up processes in the plasma take the form of Maxwellian processes at temperatures T>70 keV, while in the lower temperature range they proceed as non-thermal reactions. It is shown that at T<70 keV the in-flight reaction channels can enhance the break-up reactivities by several orders of magnitude. The levels of these reactivities however remain insufficiently high to affect BBN kinetics and change the standard prediction of light element abundances. The abundances are found to be: Yp = 0.2457, D/H = 2.542 × 10−5, 3He/H = 1.004 × 10−5, 7Li/H = 4.444 × 10−10. Future steps in the study of non-thermal processes in the primordial plasma are briefly discussed.