Cosmological and astrophysical bounds on a heavy sterile neutrino and the KARMEN anomaly

Constraints on the lifetime of the heavy sterile neutrino, that was proposed as a possible interpretation of the KARMEN anomaly, are derived from primordial nucleosynthesis and SN 1987A. Together with the recent experimental bounds on the νs lifetime, SN 1987A completely excludes this interpretation. Nucleosynthesis arguments permit a narrow window for the lifetime in the interval 0.1–0.2 sec. If νs possesses an anomalous interaction with nucleons, the SN bounds may not apply, while the nucleosynthesis ones would remain valid. PACS: 14.60.St, 26.50.+x, 95.30.Cq Also: ITEP, Bol. Cheremushkinskaya 25, Moscow 113259, Russia. e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] 1