Primordial nucleosynthesis constraint on massive, stable, strongly interacting particles

Heavy, stable, strongly interacting massive particles (X), have recently been discussed by many authors in theoretical and phenomenological contexts. We address the question of constraints on these particles from searches for anomalous nuclei containing them that would be formed during primordial nucleosynthesis. Based on existing data and previous investigations of primordial nucleosynthesis of anomalous nuclei, we find a limit on the abundance ratio $\eta_X\equiv n_X/n_B$ in the range of $3\times 10^{-11}$ to $3\times 10^{-16}$ for masses up to 10 TeV with a possible curious window between 93 to 100 GeV for which there seems to be an absence of data. These bounds are orders of magnitude below the expectations for this abundance based on the standard big bang model and generic properties of strongly interacting particles, but depend on the $X-N$ interaction being sufficiently strong. Our bounds raise serious questions about the existence of such particles in nature. Since we draw heavily on our intuition from information on nuclear forces in the $\Lambda-N$ system, we estimate how much weaker than the $\Lambda-N$ potential the $X-N$ potential must be in order to evade these bounds.