Neutrino oscillations in the early Universe

Abstract

We discuss the oscillations effects on neutrinos in the early Universe and update the cosmological constraints on the oscillation parameters. It is shown that sterile LOW solution to the solar neutrino problem is almost completely excluded from cosmological nucleosynthesis considerations. Two possibilities for the relaxation of this constraint are discussed: high primordial helium-4 yield and a relic lepton asymmetry present at nucleosynthesis epoch. The numerical analysis proved that Y_p=0.25 only relaxes the constraint on LOW solution, while L > 10^{-5} is capable to remove it.

Comments: 4 pages, 3 eps figures included, espcrc2.sty, talk at NOW2000 Workshop, 11-16 September 2000, Otranto, Italy, to be published in Nucl. Phys. B Suppl