Abstract :
The lepton asymmetry created in the out-of-equilibrium decay of a heavy Majorana neutrino can generate the cosmological baryon asymmetry YB when processed through fast anomalous electroweak reactions. In this work I examine this process under the following assumptions: (1) maximal νμ−−ντ mixing (2) hierarchical mass spectrum m3≃5×10−2 eV≫m2 (3) small-angle MSW solution to the solar neutrino deficit. Working in a basis where the charged lepton and heavy neutrino mass matrices are diagonal, I find the following bounds on the heavy Majorana masses Mi: (a) for a symmetric Dirac neutrino mass matrix (no other constraints), a YB compatible with BBN constraints can be obtained for min(M2,M3)>1011 GeV (b) if any of the Dirac matrix elements vanishes, successful baryogenesis can be effected for a choice of min(M2,M3) as low as a few ×109 GeV. The latter is compatible with reheat requirements for supersymmetric cosmologies with sub-TeV gravitino masses.
