Solving the cosmic lithium problems with primordial late-decaying particles

Abstract

We investigate the modifications to predictions for the abundances of light elements from standard big-bang nucleosynthesis when exotic late-decaying particles with lifetimes exceeding $\ensuremath{\sim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{sec}$ are prominent in the early Universe. Utilizing a model-independent analysis of the properties of these long-lived particles, we identify the parameter space associated with models that are consistent with all observational data and hence resolve the much discussed discrepancies between observations and theoretical predictions for the abundances of $^{7}\mathrm{Li}$ and $^{6}\mathrm{Li}$.