Abstract
THERE is at least one lepton in addition to the electron and muon and this might have an associated neutrino. If such a neutrino is stable, its existence implies that the amount of helium produced in the early stages of the expanding Universe is higher than is generally believed. If there are several heavy leptons with stable neutrinos, the helium production may become so high that it is in clear contradiction with observations. It is pointed out here that, even if these neutrinos exist, they may not be stable and that there is no clear evidence that even the muon neutrino is stable. If the additional neutrinos are unstable with a short enough half life, they do not affect the cosmological helium production and it is reduced if the muon neutrino is unstable.
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TAYLER, R. Neutrino stability and cosmological helium production. Nature 274, 232–234 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/274232a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/274232a0
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