Primordial Lithium Abundance in Catalyzed Big Bang Nucleosynthesis

Abstract

There exists a well known problem with the Li7+Be7 abundance predicted by standard big bang nucleosynthesis being larger than the value observed in population II stars. The catalysis of big bang nucleosynthesis by metastable, \tau_X \ge 10^3 sec, charged particles X^- is capable of suppressing the primordial Li7+Be7, abundance and making it consistent with the observations. We show that to produce the correct abundance, this mechanism of suppression places a requirement on the initial abundance of X^- at temperatures of 4\times 10^8 K to be on the order of or larger than 0.02 per baryon, which is within the natural range of abundances in models with metastable electroweak-scale particles. The suppression of Li7+Be7, is triggered by the formation of (Be7X^-), compound nuclei, with fast depletion of their abundances by catalyzed proton reactions, and in some models by direct capture of X^- on Be7. The combination of Li7+Be7 and Li6 constraints favours the window of lifetimes, 1000s \la tau_X \leq 2000 s.