Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Constraints on the Self-Gravity of Pressure

Abstract

Using big bang nucleosynthesis and present, high-precision measurements of light element abundances, we constrain the self-gravity of radiation pressure in the early universe. The self-gravity of pressure is strictly non-Newtonian, and thus the constraints we set provide a direct test of this prediction of general relativity and of the standard, Robertson-Walker-Friedmann cosmology.

5 pages, 1 figure. This paper was developed from an earlier version which was posted as arXiv:0707.3589