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Phys. Rev. Lett. 42, 407–410 (1979)

Dynamical Role of Light Neutral Leptons in Cosmology

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Scott Tremaine
W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, and Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, England

James E. Gunn
W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, Hale Observatories, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, and Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D. C. 20005

Received 31 May 1978; published in the issue dated 5 February 1979

Using the Vlasov equation, we show that massive galactic halos cannot be composed of stable neutral leptons of mass ≲ 1 MeV. Since most of the mass in clusters of galaxies probably consists of stripped halos, we conclude that the "missing mass" in clusters does not consist of leptons of mass ≲ 1 MeV (e.g., muon or electron neutrinos). Lee and Weinberg's hypothetical heavy leptons (mass ≲ 1 GeV) are not ruled out by this argument.

© 1979 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.407
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.407
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