Lithium and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
Abstract
Since the discovery of the "Spite plateau" in 1982, lithium observations in halo stars have been used to deduce the primordial 7Li abundance. Compared with the results of Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) it provided an estimate of the baryonic density of the Universe, together with the other cosmological isotopes. However, recently, the observations of the anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation, by the WMAP satellite, has provided a determination of this baryonic density (Ωbh2) with an unprecedented precision. There is a very good agreement with deuterium observed in cosmological clouds, but we note a discrepancy between the deduced 7Li abundance and the one observed in halo stars. The origin of this discrepancy, observational, stellar, nuclear or more fundamental remains to be clarified. A recent nuclear physics experiment provided new results on the 7{Be}({d,p})2α, an up to now neglected reaction in BBN. Unfortunately, this cannot solve the 7Li discrepancy.
- Publication:
-
From Lithium to Uranium: Elemental Tracers of Early Cosmic Evolution
- Pub Date:
- 2005
- DOI:
- 10.1017/S1743921305005156
- Bibcode:
- 2005IAUS..228...13C