Lithium synthesis in microquasar accretion

Abstract

We study the synthesis of lithium isotopes in the hot tori formed around stellar mass black holes by accretion of the companion star. We find that sizable amounts of both stable isotopes 6Li and 7Li can be produced, the exact figures varying with the characteristics of the torus and reaching as much as 1e-2 Msun for each isotope. This mass output is enough to contaminate the entire Galaxy at a level comparable with the original, pre-galactic amount of lithium and to overcome other sources such as cosmic-ray spallation or stellar nucleosynthesis.