Nucleon Mass Corrections to the p n Rates During Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
Abstract
The thermal rates for converting neutrons to protons, and vice versa, are calculated, including corrections of order 1 MeV divided by a nucleon mass. The results imply that the primodial helium abundance predicted for big bang nucleosynthesis has been systematically underestimated by about δ Y4 = 0.0012, i.e., δ Y4 / Y4 ≈ .005.
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