Nucleosynthesis constraints on massive, stable, strongly interacting particles

Abstract

We find constraints on heavy, stable, strongly interacting massive particles (X) from searches for anomalous nuclei containing them, formed during primordial nucleosynthesis. Using existing data, we obtain a limit on the abundance ratio $C_X\equiv n_X/n_B$ in the range of $3\times 10^{-8}$ to $3\times 10^{-13}$ for masses up to 10 TeV if the $X-N$ interaction is sufficiently strong to bind in low Z nuclei. We also find a rough lower limit on the $X-N$ interaction that implies binding in nuclei with $A\ge 200$ over much of the $M_X$ range of interest, and address the relative abundance of such anomalous nuclei on Earth.

Comments: 11 pages; Final version; to appear in Phys. Rev. Letters