# Leptonic Domains in the Early Universe and Their Implications

## Abstract

We extend a treatment of the causal structure of space-time to active-sterile neutrino transformation-based schemes for lepton number generation in the early universe. We find that these causality considerations necessarily lead to the creation of spatial domains of lepton number with opposite signs. Lepton number gradients at the domain boundaries can open a new channel for MSW resonant production of sterile neutrinos. The enhanced sterile neutrino production via this new channel allows considerable tightening of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on active-sterile neutrino mixing, including the proposed $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ solution for the Super Kamiokande atmospheric $`\nu _\mu `$ deficit, and the four-neutrino schemes proposed to simultaneously fit current neutrino experimental results.

PACS numbers: 04.90.Nn; 14.60.Lm; 97.60.Lf; 98.54.-h

It is well known that resonant MSW (Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein)  transitions between active neutrinos and sterile neutrinos in the early universe could generate large lepton number asymmetries in the neutrino sector . Here the lepton number for an active neutrino species $`\nu _\alpha `$ is defined to be $`L_{\nu _\alpha }(n_{\nu _\alpha }n_{\overline{\nu }_\alpha })/n_\gamma `$, the net asymmetry in $`\nu _\alpha `$ over $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ number density normalized by the photon number density $`n_\gamma `$.

Not well noted is a crucial feature involved in the lepton number generation process: that the lepton number asymmetry is first damped to essentially zero by the active-sterile neutrino mixing, then oscillates chaotically with an progressively larger amplitude as the mixing goes through resonances, until the asymmetry converges to a growing asymptotic value that is either positive or negative. As a result of this feature, the sign of the lepton number asymmetry is independent of the initial conditions which obtain before the instability begins, and is exponentially sensitive to the parameters involved during the chaotic oscillitory phase. In turn, the lepton number generated in this process may not have a uniform sign in different causal domains. Obviously, an upper bound to the size of these domains is the particle horizon $`H^1(90/8\pi ^3)^{1/2}g^{1/2}m_{\mathrm{pl}}/T^2`$ where $`g`$ is the statistical weight in relativistic particles, $`T`$ is the temperature of the universe, and $`m_{\mathrm{pl}}1.22\times 10^{28}`$ eV.

The typical size of these domains is at least as large as the diffusion length of neutrinos at the time of the lepton number generation. These leptonic domains can persist as long as the resonant neutrino transition is capable of efficient lepton number generation. This is because any reduction of lepton number at domain boundaries due to mixing will be quickly reversed by the generation process so that a boundary region is incorporated into one domain or the other.

The existence of leptonic domains in the early universe provide a new channel of producing sterile neutrinos, via the resonant MSW conversion of active neutrinos to sterile neutrinos at domain boundaries, where lepton number gradients exist. If during the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) epoch the population of sterile neutrinos from this channel becomes comparable to that of an equilibrated active neutrino flavor, the extra neutrino degrees-of-freedom (an increase in $`g`$) can increase the primordial helium abundance significantly . Therefore, such a production mechanism can be constrained by the observationally-inferred primordial helium abundance.

The details of the active-sterile neutrino transformation process in the early universe and the associated generation of lepton number asymmetries can be found in a number of previous works . Here we only briefly summarize. In all calculations, we employ the natural units $`\mathrm{}=c=k_\mathrm{B}=1`$. A two-family system $`\nu _\alpha \nu _s`$ ($`\alpha =e`$, $`\mu `$ or $`\tau `$, and $`\nu _s`$ is the sterile neutrino) has a 2$`\times `$2 evolution Hamiltonian $``$ with $`_{\alpha \alpha }=V_z`$, $`_{\alpha s}=_{s\alpha }^{}=V_x+iV_y`$, $`_{ss}=0`$. The effective vector potential V during the BBN epoch (below the QCD phase transition temperature $`T\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}100`$ MeV) is

$$V_x=\frac{\delta m^2}{2E}\mathrm{sin}2\theta ,V_y=0,V_z=\frac{\delta m^2}{2E}\mathrm{cos}2\theta +V_\alpha ^L+V_\alpha ^T,$$
(1)   
where $`\delta m^2m_{\nu _s}^2m_{\nu _\alpha }^2`$, $`\theta `$ is the vacuum mixing angle, and $`E`$ is neutrino energy. The matter-antimatter asymmetry contribution to the effective potential is

$$V_\alpha ^L\pm 0.35G_FT^3\left[L_0+2L_{\nu _\alpha }+\underset{\beta \alpha }{}L_{\nu _\beta }\right]$$
(2)   
with the “$`+`$” sign for $`\nu _\alpha `$ and the “$``$” sign for $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$. The quantity $`L_0`$ represents the contribution from the baryonic asymmetry and electron-positron asymmetry, i.e., $`L_010^{10}`$. The quantity $`L_{\nu _\beta }`$ is the asymmetry in other active neutrino species $`\nu _\beta `$. For simplicity, and with no loss of generality, we will assume $`L_{\nu _\beta }=0`$ unless explicitly stated otherwise. The contribution to V from a thermal neutrino background is 

$$V_\alpha ^T\{\begin{array}{cc}80G_F^2ET^4\hfill & \text{for }\alpha =e\text{;}\hfill \\ 22G_F^2ET^4\hfill & \text{for }\alpha =\mu ,\tau \text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)   
$`V_\alpha ^T`$ is the same for both $`\nu _\alpha `$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$.

Resonances occur when the diagonal elements of the Hamiltonian $``$ are equal, i.e., $`V_z=0`$. This is when $`\nu _\alpha `$ and $`\nu _s`$ become degenerate in effective mass and maximally mixed in medium. Very simplistically, when $`V_z`$ evolves through zero, $`\nu _\alpha `$ and $`\nu _s`$ swap their flavors if the resonance is adiabatic ($`|\mathrm{d}V_z/\mathrm{d}t|V_x^2`$), and remain essentially unaltered if the resonance is non-adiabatic ($`|\mathrm{d}V_z/\mathrm{d}t|V_x^2`$). Since the resonance condition is energy dependent, only neutrinos with $`E_{\mathrm{res}}`$ are are resonant at any given temperature.

When $`V_\alpha ^L=0`$ (or negligibly small compared to $`|\delta m^2|/2E`$), resonances can occur for the $`\nu _\alpha \nu _s`$ system only if $`\delta m^2<0`$ (i.e., $`m_{\nu _\alpha }>m_{\nu _s}`$). For $`\delta m^2>0`$, and at high enough temperatures for $`\delta m^2<0`$, it has been shown that active-sterile neutrino transformation can damp $`L_0+2L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ to zero very efficiently. The amplification of $`L_0+2L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ starts for $`\delta m^2<0`$ only as the temperature falls below the critical temperature

$$T_\mathrm{c}22\left|\delta m^2/1\mathrm{eV}^2\right|^{1/6}\mathrm{MeV}.$$
(4)   
This is also the temperature where a significant number of $`\nu _\alpha `$ go through the resonance. The instability of $`L_0+2L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ at $`T_\mathrm{c}`$ results from the non-linear characteristics of the MSW resonances, and the feedback effect they have on the lepton number asymmetry.

Due to the same non-linearity, $`L_0+2L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ (or $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ once $`L_{\nu _\alpha }L_0`$) oscillates chaotically near $`T_c`$, with an exponentially increasing amplitude. This chaotic feature was first pointed out by Shi in numerical studies of monochromic neutrinos undergoing MSW resonance, and was later found to apply to systems with a distribution of energies as well . Eventually, at a temperature slightly below $`T_c`$, the oscillatory behavor abates, and $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ settles into one of two fixed points (two $`T^4`$ power-laws) :

$$L_{\nu _\alpha }^{(\pm )}\pm \left|\frac{\delta m^2}{10\mathrm{eV}^2}\right|\left(\frac{T}{1\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^4.$$
(5)   
The sign of the emergent $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$, however, is independent of the initial $`L_0`$ and $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ above $`T_c`$, and is exponentially sensitive to the evolution of the potential V during the oscillatory phase. The sign is therefore chaotic and uncorrelated across causal domains.

In the power-law regime, the growth of $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ is driven by the resonant conversion of $`\nu _\alpha `$ to $`\nu _s`$ (if $`L_{\nu _\alpha }<0`$) or $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ to $`\overline{\nu }_s`$ (if $`L_{\nu _\alpha }>0`$) in the sector of the neutrino energy spectrum with $`E_{\mathrm{res}}/T0.06|\delta m^2/1\mathrm{eV}^2||L_{\nu _\alpha }|^1(T/1\mathrm{MeV})^4`$, which is in general $`1`$. In this regime, $`V_\alpha ^T`$ quickly becomes negligible because it scales as $`T^5`$. The power-law solution, Eq. (5), for $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$ is very stable, in that a $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$ significantly deviating from this solution will be quickly damped or amplified until it converges to Eq. (5). (A larger $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$ implies a small $`E_{\mathrm{res}}/T`$, and therefore a less efficient generation of $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$; a smaller $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$ implies a larger $`E_{\mathrm{res}}/T`$ and a more efficient generation of $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$.) The rate of this convergence is $`\mathrm{d}\mathrm{ln}|L_{\nu _\alpha }|/\mathrm{d}\mathrm{ln}T\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}4`$ in the power-law regime.

As $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$ increases, $`E_{\mathrm{res}}/T`$ will slowly increase. This is because keeping up with the approximate $`T^4`$ growth requires progressively more $`\nu _\alpha `$ or $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ to be resonantly converted into sterile neutrinos. Eventually, as $`E_{\mathrm{res}}/T`$ sweeps through most of the $`\nu _\alpha `$ energy spectrum, the growth of $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$ tapers off near its physical limit. This limit is $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|=3/8`$, when the entire $`\nu _\alpha `$ or $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ population has been converted into sterile neutrinos. In turn, the lepton number generation process ceases, and any inhomogeneity of lepton number arising from the process begins to be smoothed out by neutrino diffusion.

Because of the chaotic behavior of the sign of $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$, domains of lepton number with opposite signs are expected to form at the epoch when $`TT_c`$. At the domain boundaries, mixing between different domains tends to reduce the asymmetries and increases the thickness of the boundary regions. However, the resonant neutrino mixing tends to maintain the solution in Eq. (5) and so narrows the boundary region. The thickness of the boundaries, very crudely, is thus the diffusion length of active neutrinos within the time in which $`|L_{\nu _\alpha }|`$ grows by an $`e`$-folding, $`H^1/4`$. Taking the $`\nu _\alpha `$ collision rate $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu _\alpha }G_F^2T^5`$, we obtain a boundary thickness relative to the horizon scale $`ct`$

$$\delta _d\frac{c}{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu _\alpha }}\left(\frac{\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\nu _\alpha }}{4H}\right)^{1/2}ct\left(\frac{T}{1\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^{1.5},$$
(6)   
for $`T\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}1`$ MeV when active neutrinos are still diffusive. At temperatures $`T\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}1`$ MeV, neutrinos decouple from the plasma and free-stream at the speed of light. In this case $`\delta _dct`$.

The existance of lepton domains results in a gradient of $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$, and therefore a gradient in $`V_z`$. More importantly, the varying $`V_z`$ at the domain boundaries satisfies the resonant condition for most $`\nu _\alpha `$ crossing the boundaries. This is because \[as Eq. (5) shows\] the power-law solutions within each domain result from resonant transitions of $`\nu _\alpha `$ or $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ with $`E_{\mathrm{res}}T`$. As a result, at domain boundaries $`E_{\mathrm{res}}`$ becomes larger. This is because $`E_{\mathrm{res}}|L_{\nu _\alpha }|^1`$. Most of $`\nu _\alpha `$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ therefore undergo resonant transitions to sterile neutrinos at domain boundaries.

This new channel of sterile neutrino production can populate a significant sterile neutrino sea with a number density comparable to that of an equilibrated active neutrino flavor if (1) the resonant conversion at the boundary region is adiabatic; and (2) this new production channel for sterile neutrinos does not provide negative feedback to the lepton number asymmetry generation process, and so does not compromise the domain structure of lepton number. Here we demonstrate that both requirements can be satisfied.

The adiabaticity condition at the resonances is

$$V_x^2>\left|\frac{\mathrm{d}V_z}{\mathrm{d}t}\right|=\left|c\frac{V_z}{r}HT\frac{V_z}{T}\right|,$$
(7)   
evaluated at $`V_z=0`$. The second term on the r.h.s. is of order $`HV_\alpha ^L`$. This term is always small compared to the first term as long as the leptonic domains exist. Since the spatial gradient is expected to be smooth across the boundary (whose thickness is determined by the diffusion/streaming process), we can employ the average $`|V_z/r|`$ across the domain boundaries, $`0.7G_FT^3(L_{\nu _\alpha }^{(+)}L_{\nu _\alpha }^{()})/\delta _d`$ \[where $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{(+)}L_{\nu _\alpha }^{()}`$ satisfying Eq. (5)\]. In turn, the adiabaticity condition Eq. (7) becomes

$$\left|\delta m^2\right|^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta >10H\left(\frac{E}{T}\right)^2G_FT^5\left(\frac{T}{1\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^{1.5}\mathrm{min}[\left|\frac{\delta m^2}{10\mathrm{eV}^2}\right|\left(\frac{T}{1\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^4,\frac{3}{8}].$$
(8)   
The production of sterile neutrinos via adiabatic conversion of $`\nu _\alpha `$ at domain boundaries will not have a negative impact on the $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ generation process and the domain structure of lepton number. Consider a domain boundary with a lepton asymmetry $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{(+)}`$ on one side, and $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{()}`$ on the other. The $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{(+)}`$ side has fewer $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ than $`\nu _\alpha `$, and some $`\overline{\nu }_s`$ from resonant $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_s`$ conversions. The $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{()}`$ side has the opposite, with more $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ than $`\nu _\alpha `$, and some $`\nu _s`$ from resonant $`\nu _\alpha \nu _s`$ conversions. When neutrinos cross the boundary from the $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{(+)}`$ side to the $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{()}`$ side, the resultant production of sterile neutrinos due to $`\nu _\alpha \nu _s`$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha \overline{\nu }_s`$ has no bearing on the asymmetry of $`\nu _\alpha `$ on the $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{()}`$ side. The existence of sterile neutrinos do not hinder the $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ generation process until the sterile neutrino population is comparable in numbers to the $`\nu _\alpha `$ population. The resonant conversion of $`\overline{\nu }_s\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ due to the crossing, on the other hand, produces more $`\overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ in the $`L_{\nu _\alpha }^{()}`$ domain and only reinforces the domain structure.

Therefore, once the adiabaticity condition Eq. (8) is met, this new channel of sterile neutrino production may be potent enough to bring the sterile neutrinos into equilibrium with active neutrinos. (In fact, this condition is conservative because neutrinos may cross multiple domain boundaries within a Hubble time.) On the other hand, the observationally-inferred primordial <sup>4</sup>He abundance  and deuterium abundance  constrain the total number of neutrino flavors in equilibium $`N_\nu `$ to be $`\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}3.3`$  ($`N_\nu `$ represents relativistic degrees of freedom in neutral fermions). This constraint implies that the new sterile neutrino production channel cannot be efficient before the decoupling of the $`\nu _\alpha \overline{\nu }_\alpha `$ pair production process. For $`\alpha =\mu `$ and $`\tau `$, this decoupling temperature is $`5`$ MeV. A constraint on the two-family $`\nu _{\mu ,\tau }\nu _s`$ mixing can therefore be obtained by requiring that the adiabaticity condition Eq. (8) is not satisfied at $`T\mathrm{max}(5,|\delta m^2/4\mathrm{eV}^2|^{1/4})`$ MeV (the latter term in the bracket is the temperature at which the growth of $`L_{\nu _\alpha }`$ stops):

$$\begin{array}{cc}\left|\delta m^2\right|\mathrm{sin}^22\theta <7\times 10^5\mathrm{eV}^2\hfill & \text{for }\left|\delta m^2\right|\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}2.5\times 10^3\mathrm{eV}^2\text{;}\hfill \\ \mathrm{sin}^22\theta <3\times 10^8\hfill & \text{for }\left|\delta m^2\right|\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}2.5\times 10^3\mathrm{eV}^2\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(9)   
For $`\alpha =e`$, the constraint from BBN is more severe. The sterile neutrino production cannot be efficient not only above the $`\nu _e\overline{\nu }_e`$ pair production decoupling temperature $`T3`$ MeV, but also at the weak freeze-out temperature of $`T1`$ MeV. At this temperature, a significant $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ and $`\overline{\nu }_e\overline{\nu }_s`$ transition would cause a deficit in the $`\nu _e\overline{\nu }_e`$ number density, which cannot be replenished by pair production. A significant deficit in the $`\nu _e\overline{\nu }_e`$ number density causes the neutron-to-proton ratio to freeze out too early and results in a primordial <sup>4</sup>He abundance that is too large. (For example, a 10% deficit in the $`\nu _e\overline{\nu }_e`$ number density has roughly the same effect on the <sup>4</sup>He abundance as $`N_\nu 3.5`$.) Therefore the BBN constraint on the two-family $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ mixing is obtained at $`T\mathrm{max}(1,|\delta m^2/4\mathrm{eV}^2|^{1/4})`$ MeV:

$$\begin{array}{cc}\left|\delta m^2\right|\mathrm{sin}^22\theta <5\times 10^8\mathrm{eV}^2\hfill & \text{for }\left|\delta m^2\right|\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}4\mathrm{eV}^2\text{;}\hfill \\ \mathrm{sin}^22\theta <10^8\hfill & \text{for }\left|\delta m^2\right|\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}4\mathrm{eV}^2\text{.}\hfill \end{array}$$
(10)   
These bounds are summarized in Figure 1. They apply in addition to the previous bounds based on a universe with homogeneous lepton numbers, and together they offer much tighter constraints on the two-family active-sterile neutrino mixing.

Intriguing results can also be obtained if there is active-sterile neutrino mixing involving three or more families. One example is the proposal that a $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ and $`\nu _\tau \nu _s^{}`$ (in principle $`\nu _s^{}`$ and $`\nu _s`$ can be the same flavor) mixing might be able to simultaneously explain the Super Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data and satisfy the BBN bound. A stand-alone $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ oscillation solution to the Super Kamiokande data would violate the BBN bound by bringing $`\nu _s`$ into equilibrium during BBN. The double active-sterile neutrino oscillation proposal argues that this violation of BBN bound may be avoided if a resonant $`\nu _\tau \nu _s^{}`$ transformation in the early universe generates a $`L_{\nu _\tau }`$ that hinders the $`\nu _s`$ production from the $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ mixing (by creating a $`L_{\nu _\beta }`$ term in Eq. ). This argument is no longer valid once we consider the existence of the $`L_{\nu _\tau }`$ domains as a result of the resonant $`\nu _\mu \nu _s^{}`$ transformation. Rather the contrary is true. The $`L_{\nu _\tau }`$ domains facilitate the production of $`\nu _s`$ via resonant $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ transformation at domain boundaries. The adiabaticity condition, Eq. (8), is modified in this double mixing situation to be:

$$\left|\delta m_1^2\right|^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _1>5H\left(\frac{E}{T}\right)^2G_FT^5\left(\frac{T}{1\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^{1.5}\mathrm{min}[\left|\frac{\delta m_2^2}{10\mathrm{eV}^2}\right|\left(\frac{T}{1\mathrm{MeV}}\right)^4,\frac{3}{8}].$$
(11)   
where $`\delta m_1^2|m_{\nu _\mu }^2m_{\nu _s}^2|`$, $`\theta _1`$ is the $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ vacuum mixing angle, and $`\delta m_2^2m_{\nu _\tau }^2m_{\nu _s^{}}^2`$. To be consistent with BBN, the adiabaticity condition cannot be satisfied for the double mixing system from the onset of the $`L_{\nu _\tau }`$ generation $`T_c22|\delta m_2^2/1\mathrm{e}\mathrm{V}^2|^{1/6}`$ MeV to the $`\nu _{\mu ,\tau }`$ decoupling temperature $`T5`$ MeV. However, for $`\delta m_1^210^3`$ to $`10^2`$ eV<sup>2</sup> and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _11`$ (the parameters required to explain the Super Kamiokande data), the adiabaticity condition is always satisfied in this double mixing proposal for any reasonable choices of the tau neutrino mass. Therefore, BBN unambiguously rules out an active-sterile neutrino oscillation explanation to the Super Kamiokande data.

Another interesting situation involving multi-family active-sterile neutrino mixing arises from neutrino mixing schemes proposed to explain simultaneously the Los Alamos Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ signal, Super Kamiokande atmospheric $`\nu _\mu `$ deficit, and solar neutrino deficit. In these models, $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$ mixing (with $`m_{\nu _\mu }^2m_{\nu _e}^20.1`$ to 10 eV<sup>2</sup> and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _{\mu e}10^3`$) is employed to explain the LSND result and $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ mixing (with $`m_{\nu _s}^2m_{\nu _e}^210^5`$ eV<sup>2</sup> and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _{es}10^3`$ for the MSW solution, and $`|m_{\nu _s}^2m_{\nu _e}^2|10^{10}`$ eV<sup>2</sup> and $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _{es}1`$ for the vacuum solution) is invoked to explain the solar neutrino data. If there is mixing between $`\nu _\mu `$ and $`\nu _s`$ as well, however, with $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _{\mu s}\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}10^{11}`$, the $`L_{\nu _\mu }`$ background and domains generated by the mixing in the early universe would imply that the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ mixing would not populate enough $`\nu _s`$ to violate BBN constraints only if

$$\left|m_{\nu _s}^2m_{\nu _e}^2\right|^2\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _{es}<2\times 10^{14}\left|\frac{m_{\nu _\mu }^2m_{\nu _s}^2}{1\mathrm{eV}^2}\right|^{1/4}\mathrm{eV}^22\times 10^{14}\mathrm{eV}^2.$$
(12)   
(This is in analogy to the previous example if we take $`\delta m_1^2|m_{\nu _s}^2m_{\nu _e}^2|`$ and $`\delta m_2^2|m_{\nu _\mu }^2m_{\nu _s}^2|`$ in Eq. .) This requirement is not satisfied by the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ solution to the solar neutrino problem. (Note that if the solar neutrino problem is solved by a vacuum $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ mixing, with $`|m_{\nu _s}^2m_{\nu _e}^2|10^{10}`$ eV<sup>2</sup>, Eq. (12) will be satisfied and the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ resonant transition will not be adiabatic.)

Therefore, in light of LSND, Super Kamiokande and solar neutrino experiments, the neutrino oscillation explanations of the LSND data and the MSW solution to solar neutrino data is inconsistent with BBN unless the $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ mixing is extremely small, $`\mathrm{sin}^22\theta _{\mu s}\begin{array}{c}<\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}10^{11}`$. This results holds despite the possibility that the $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$ mixing amplitude and the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ mixing amplitude could be $`\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}10^8`$ times larger. This restriction severly constrains the $`\nu _\tau `$-$`\nu _\mu `$-$`\nu _e`$-$`\nu _s`$ mixing matrix required to fit the current neutrino experiment results.

In summary, we have discussed the existence of leptonic domains as an inevitable consequence of resonant active-sterile neutrino oscillation mechanisms for generation of lepton number. Resonant MSW conversion due to the lepton number gradients at domain boundaries therefore provides a new channel for sterile neutrino production. As a result, the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraint on active-sterile neutrino mixing becomes much more stringent. Likewise for the constraint on multi-family neutrino mixing schemes involving sterile neutrinos. We have found that the $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ explanation to the Super Kamiokande data is inconsistent with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis in spite of lepton number asymmetries generated by other active-sterile neutrino oscillations. We have also found that together the $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$ explanation of the LSND result and the MSW $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ solution to the solar neutrino problem are incompatible with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis considerations unless the amplitude of the mixing between $`\nu _\mu `$ and $`\nu _s`$ is $`\begin{array}{c}>\hfill \\ \hfill \end{array}10^8`$ smaller than that between $`\nu _\mu `$ and $`\nu _e`$ and that between $`\nu _e`$ and $`\nu _s`$.

X. S. and G. M. F. are supported in part by NSF grant PHY98-00980 at UCSD.

Figure Captions:

Figure 1. Parameter spaces to the right of the hatched lines are excluded by BBN. The solid lines indicate bounds obtained in this work, and the dashed lines are previous bounds assuming a universe with a homogeneous lepton number.