Related papers: The lithium problem, a phenomenologist's perspecti…
Lithium is one of the few primordially produced elements. The value of the primordial Li is taken to be that observed in metal--poor dwarfs, where it is not contaminated by stellar Li sources which act on longer time scales. The atmospheric…
I consider the synthesis of 6Li due to the decay of relic particles, such as gravitinos or moduli, after the epoch of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. The synthesized 6Li/H ratio may be compared to 6Li/H in metal-poor stars which, in the absence…
Of all the light elements, the evolution of lithium (Li) in the Milky Way is perhaps the most difficult to explain. Li is difficult to synthesize and is easily destroyed, making most stellar sites unsuitable for producing Li in sufficient…
Our knowledge on the possible existence in nature of stable exotic particles depends solely upon experimental observation. Guided by this general principle and motivated by theoretical hypotheses on the existence of stable particles of…
The prediction of the PLANCK-constrained primordial lithium abundance in the Universe is in discordance with the observed Li abundances in warm Population II dwarf and subgiant stars. Among the physically best motivated ideas, it has been…
We point out that the cosmological abundance of ${}^7$Li can be reduced down to observed values if during its formation Big Bang Nucleosynthesis is modified by the presence of light electrically neutral particles $X$ that have substantial…
We present Li abundances for 73 stars in the metallicity range -3.5 < [Fe/H] < -1.0 using improved IRFM temperatures (Casagrande et al. 2010) with precise E(B-V) values obtained mostly from interstellar NaI D lines, and high-quality…
The dependence of lithium abundance on modified gravity in low-mass stellar objects is demonstrated. This may introduce an additional uncertainty to age determination techniques of young stars and globular clusters if they rely on the light…
Lithium abundances in a selected sample of halo stars have been revised by using new accurate Teff. From 41 plateau stars we found no evidence for intrinsic dispersion, a tiny trend with Teff and no trend with [Fe/H]. These results argue…
The chemical evolution of lithium in the Milky Way represents a major problem in modern astrophysics. Indeed, lithium is, on the one hand, easily destroyed in stellar interiors, and, on the other hand, produced at some specific stellar…
The early Universe had a chemical composition consisting of hydrogen, helium and traces of lithium1, almost all other elements were created in stars and supernovae. The mass fraction, Z, of elements more massive than helium, is called…
We present high resolution observations (FWHM=15 km/sec) of the Li region in 5 stars belonging to the old (14 Gyrs), metal rich ([Fe/H]=-0.7) globular cluster 47Tuc. At the ESO NTT telescope we obtained EMMI spectra for three V about 17.4…
The observed primordial 7Li abundance in metal-poor halo stars is found to be lower than its Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) calculated value by a factor of approximately three. Some recent works suggested the possibility that this…
Lithium depletion and enrichment in the cosmos is not yet well understood. To help tighten constraints on stellar and Galactic evolution models, we present the largest high-resolution analysis of Li abundances A(Li) to date, with results…
About 1% of giant stars have been shown to have large surface Li abundances, which is unexpected according to standard stellar evolution models. Several scenarios for lithium production have been proposed, but it is still unclear why these…
We discuss the current status of the sample of Lithium abundances in extremely metal poor (EMP) turn-off (TO) stars collected by our group, and compare it with the available literature results. In the last years, evidences have accumulated…
Lithium abundances are presented for a sample of 181 nearby F and G dwarfs with accurate {\it Hipparcos} parallaxes. The stars are on circular orbits about the Galactic centre and, hence, are identified as belonging to the thin disk. This…
We have derived beryllium abundances in a wide sample of stars hosting planets, with spectral types in the range F7V-K0V, aimed at studying in detail the effects of the presence of planets on the structure and evolution of the associated…
There are nine metal-deficient stars that have Li abundances well below the Li plateau that is defined by over 100 unevolved stars with temperatures above 5800 K and values of [Fe/H] $<$ $-$1.0. Abundances of Be have been determined for…
We compare the properties of recent samples of the lithium abundances in halo stars to one another and to the predictions of theoretical models including rotational mixing, and we examine the data for trends with metal abundance. We find…