Cosmological and astrophysical bounds on a heavy sterile neutrino and the KARMEN anomaly

Abstract

Constraints on the lifetime of the heavy sterile neutrino, that was proposed as a possible interpretation of the KARMEN anomaly, are derived from primordial nucleosynthesis and SN 1987A. Together with the recent experimental bounds on the nu_s lifetime, SN 1987A completely excludes this interpretation. Nucleosynthesis arguments permit a narrow window for the lifetime in the interval 0.1-0.2 sec. If nu_s possesses an anomalous interaction with nucleons, the SN bounds may not apply, while the nucleosynthesis ones would remain valid.