Related papers: The Primordial Helium Abundance
The primordial abundance of deuterium produced during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) depends sensitively on the universal ratio of baryons to photons, an important cosmological parameter probed independently by the Cosmic Microwave…
The accurate evaluation of the nuclear reaction rates and corresponding uncertainties is an essential requisite for a precise determination of light nuclide primordial abundances. The recent measurement of the D(p,gamma)3He radiative…
Recent developments in the study of primordial black holes (PBHs) will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on their formation and evaporation. PBHs could provide a unique probe of the early Universe, gravitational collapse, high energy…
We investigate the suggestion that there are stellar populations in some globular clusters with enhanced helium (Y from 0.28 to 0.40) compared to the primordial value. We assume that a previous generation of massive Asymptotic Giant Branch…
Using the semi-analytic method proposed by \citet{Esma91} we calculate the abundances of the light elements produced during primordial nucleosynthesis assuming that the gauge coupling constants of the fundamental interactions may vary. We…
We derive here a robust bound on the effective number of neutrinos from constraints on primordial nucleosynthesis yields of deuterium and helium. In particular, our results are based on very weak assumptions on the astrophysical…
The differential cross section for scattering of the astrophysically important X-ray emission lines by a helium atom is calculated with an accuracy sufficient for astrophysical applications. For a helium atom an energy ``gap'' (due to the…
In this work, two aspects of the chemical evolution of 4He in the Galaxy are considered on the basis of a sample of disk planetary nebulae (PN). First, an application of corrections owing to the contamination of 4He from the evolution of…
The discordance between `low' and `high' primordial D/H measurements can be considerably reduced if the analysis of the H+D profiles accounts for the correlated velocity field of bulk motion. We have re-estimated the value of D/H at z=3.572…
The first eight elements of the periodic table are discussed: H, He, Li, Be, B, C, N, and O. They are referred to as key elements, given their important role in stellar evolution. It is noteworthy that all of them were initially synthesized…
Several processes in the early universe might lead to the formation of primordial black holes with different masses. These black holes would interact with the cosmic plasma through accretion and emission processes. Such interactions might…
We use nearby K dwarf stars to measure the helium-to-metal enrichment ratio, a diagnostic of the chemical history of the Solar Neighbourhood. Our sample of K dwarfs has homogeneously determined effective temperatures, bolometric…
We review recent observational studies of heavy element abundances in low metallicity stars and explore some implications of these results for nucleosynthesis and early Galactic chemical evolution.
Models that lead to a cosmological stiff fluid component, with a density $\rho_S$ that scales as $a^{-6}$, where $a$ is the scale factor, have been proposed recently in a variety of contexts. We calculate numerically the effect of such a…
Primordial or big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is one of the three historical strong evidences for the big bang model. The recent results by the Planck satellite mission have slightly changed the estimate of the baryonic density compared to…
Recent confrontations of the predictions of standard big bang nucleosynthesis (SBBN) with the primordial abundances of the light nuclides inferred from observational data reveal a conflict. Simply put, compared to theoretical expectations…
The primordial abundances of Deuterium, he4, and li7 are crucial to determination of the baryon density of the Universe in the framework of standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). li6 which is only produced in tiny quantities and it is…
In the standard hot big bang model, the expansion of the early universe is given by the Friedmann equation with an energy density dominated by relativistic particles. Since in a variety of models this equation is altered, we introduce…
Although the detailed conditions for explosive nucleosynthesis are derived from astrophysical modeling, nuclear physics determines fundamental patterns in abundance yields, not only for equilibrium processes. Focussing on the nu-p- and the…
The problem of primordial nucleosynthesis of helium in brane cosmology is studied using a semi-analytical method, where the Fermi-Dirac statistic is ignored. This semi-analytical method agrees with a more complete numerical calculation with…