Time Dependent Quark Masses and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Revisited
  We reinvestigate the constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis on a
possible time-dependent quark mass. The limits on such quark-mass variations
are particularly sensitive to the adopted observational abundance constraints.
Hence, in the present study we have considered updated light-element abundances
and uncertainties deduced from observations. We also consider new nuclear
reaction rates and an independent analysis of the influence of such quark-mass
variations on the resonance properties of the important 3He(d,p)4He reaction.
We find that the updated abundance and resonance constraints imply a narrower
range on the possible quark-mass variations in the early universe. We also find
that, contrary to previous investigations, the optimum concordance region
reduces to a (95% C.L.) value of -0.005 < delta m_q/m_q < 0.007 consistent with
no variation in the averaged quark mass.
