Related papers: Revised Primordial Helium Abundance Based on New A…
We re-examine the systematic errors in the determination of the primordial helium abundance, $Y_{\rm P}$. We find that the systematics are significantly larger than the statistical errors. The uncertainty in (the determination of) $Y_{\rm…
The determination of the primeval deuterium abundance has opened a precision era in big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), making accurate predictions more important than ever before. We present in analytic form new, more precise predictions for…
We report on measurements of the 4He abundance toward the outer Galaxy HII region S206 with the NRAO Green Bank telescope. Observations of hydrogen and helium radio recombination lines between 8-10 GHz were made toward the peak radio…
We calculate and display the primordial light-element abundances as a function of a neutrino degeneracy parameter \xi common to all flavors. It is the only unknown parameter characterizing the thermal medium at the primordial…
The primordial He abundance $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is a powerful probe of cosmology. Currently, $Y_\mathrm{P}$ is best determined by observations of metal-poor galaxies, while there are only a few known local extremely metal-poor ($<0.1 Z_\odot$)…
Cosmological models can be constrained by determining primordial abundances. Accurate predictions of the He I spectrum are needed to determine the primordial helium abundance to a precision of $< 1$% in order to constrain Big Bang…
The primordial abundances of deuterium, helium-3, helium-4, and lithium-7 probe the baryon density of the Universe only a few minutes after the Big Bang. Of these relics from the early Universe, deuterium is the baryometer of choice. After…
We revisit the state of the light element abundances from big bang nucleosynthesis in early 2024 with particular focus on the derived baryon abundance. We find that the largest differences between the final baryon abundances are typically…
The metal-poor damped Lyman alpha (DLA) system at z = 3.04984 in the QSO SDSSJ1419+0829 has near-ideal properties for an accurate determination of the primordial abundance of deuterium, (D/H)_p. We have analysed a high-quality spectrum of…
A critical review is given of the current status of cosmological nucleosynthesis. In the framework of the standard model with 3 types of relativistic neutrinos, the baryon-to-photon ratio, \eta, corresponding to the inferred primordial…
The products of primordial nucleosynthesis and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons are relics from the early evolution of the Universe whose observations probe the standard model of cosmology and provide windows on new physics…
Data from future high-precision Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) measurements will be sensitive to the primordial Helium abundance $Y_p$. At the same time, this parameter can be predicted from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) as a function…
A number of recent works in astronomy and cosmology have relied upon theoretical He I emissivities, but we know of no effort to quantify the uncertainties in the atomic data. We analyze and assign uncertainties to all relevant atomic data,…
We report the detection of Deuterium absorption at redshift 2.525659 towards Q1243+3047. We describe improved methods to estimate the Deuterium to Hydrogen abundance ratio (D/H) in absorption systems, including improved modeling of the…
We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider…
We show that the predicted primordial helium production is significantly reduced when new measurements of the neutron lifetime and the implied enhancement in the weak reaction rates are included in big-bang nucleosynthesis. Therefore, even…
We predict the primordial deuterium abundance using a novel, fully data-driven approach, where we use Gaussian process regression to fit experimental nuclear reaction data for $d$,($d$,$n$)$^3$He, $d$,($d$,$p$)$t$, and…
The primordial $^4$He abundance (Y$_p$) is one of the key characteristics of Primordial Nucleosynthesis processes that occurred in the first minutes after the Big Bang. Its value depends on the baryon/photon ratio $\eta\equiv…
We investigate the possible impact of diffusion on the abundance of helium and other primordial elements during formation of the first structures in the early Universe. We consider the primary collapse of a perturbation and subsequent…
We present results from photoionization models of low-metallicity HII regions. These nebulae form the basis for measuring the primordial helium abundance. Our models show that the helium ionization correction factor (ICF) can be…