Standard Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis after Planck

Abstract

Primordial or Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is one of the three historical strong evidences for the Big-Bang model together with the expansion of the Universe and the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB). The recent results by the Planck mission have slightly changed the estimate of the baryonic density Omegab, compared to the previous WMAP value. This article updates the BBN predictions for the light elements using the new value of Omegab determined by Planck, as well as an improvement of the nuclear network and new spectroscopic observations. While there is no major modification, the error bars of the primordial D/H abundance (2.67+/-0.09) x 10-5 are narrower and there is a slight lowering of the primordial Li/H abundance (4.89+0.41-0.39) x 10-10. However, this last value is still ~3 times larger than its observed spectroscopic abundance in halo stars of the Galaxy. Primordial Helium abundance is now determined to be Yp = 0.2463+/-0.0003.

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