Constraining spacetime noncommutativity with primordial nucleosynthesis

Abstract

We discuss a constraint on the scale {lambda}{sub NC} of noncommutative (NC) gauge field theory arising from consideration of the big bang nucleosynthesis of light elements. The propagation of neutrinos in the NC background described by an antisymmetric tensor {theta}{sup {mu}}{sup {nu}} does result in a tree-level vectorlike coupling to photons in a generation-independent manner, raising thus a possibility to have an appreciable contribution of three light right-handed (RH) fields to the energy density of the Universe at nucleosynthesis time. Considering elastic scattering processes of the RH neutrinos off charged plasma constituents at a given cosmological epoch, we obtain for a conservative limit on an effective number of additional doublet neutrinos {delta}N{sub {nu}}=1, a bound {lambda}{sub NC} > or approx. 3 TeV. With a more stringent requirement, {delta}N{sub {nu}} or approx. 10{sup 3} TeV. For our bounds the {theta} expansion of the NC action stays always meaningful, since the decoupling temperature of the RH species is perseveringly much less than the inferred bound for the scale of noncommutativity.