Big Bang Nucleosynthesis - the abundance of light
elements
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.
Send comments or suggestions on these pages to Trevor Ponman.
Last updated Oct 2005