Cosmological bounds to the variation of the Higgs vacuum expectation value: BBN constraints

We calculate the dependence of the deuterium binding energy upon the Higgs vacuum expectation value (v), by using different effective nucleon–nucleon potentials, and set constraints on the time variation of the Higgs vacuum expectation value from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The analysis is based on the calculation of the abundances of primordial D, 4He and 7Li. Results are consistent with variations of v/ΛQCD in the early universe, within 6σ if all available data on primordial abundances are considered in the analysis.