Early nucleosynthesis: The present situation

Abstract

The most recent developments in the very light element abundance observations, especially the determination of a high (D/H) ratio ∼3 10−4 on a remote QSO line of sight, are analyzed and some of the consequences on the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) models, on the predicted baryonic density and on the galactic evolution schemes are reviewed. Should this (D/H) determination be confirmed by further observations, the simplest standard BBN model would be the most successful in these abundance predictions: the baryon density should be close to the luminous mass density Ω B ∼ (5–8)10−3 if H=100 km s−1 Mpc−1; the challenge is now to devise galactic evolution models able to account for a large D destruction and avoiding to overproduce3He and metals.