ObservationalCosmology

Guidance: Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

The main aims in studying nucleosynthesis in this unit are not to tangle with the reaction chains involved, but :

• To understand that the abundance of light elements can be predicted from rather well-known physics applied to the early Universe;
• To appreciate that the abundances produced depend on the density of baryonic (normal) matter, and hence Omega(baryons),
• To be aware of the observational situation on the abundance of these light elements and the resulting value derived for Omega(baryons),
• To appreciate that the concordance of measurements from the different elements, provides strong support for the basic soundness of the Hot Big Bang picture.

An accessible review of BBN is given by Martin White , with more detailed material in Rowan-Robinson and Liddle. None of these adequately address the issue of how the observed abundances are derived. To understand this (there are considerable subtleties involved), see the useful paper by Thuan & Izotov .  You do not need to make notes on the details of the Thuan & Izotov paper.