The puzzle of the lightest elements: observations, predictions, hypotheses

Abstract

The prediction that deuterium and helium-3 are produced in cosmological nuclear fusion, together with recent data on their interstellar abundance, have attracted the attention of astrophysicists to models of how these nuclides were produced and destroyed back at the Galaxy's pre-stellar stage. In particular, the question of whether the observed yields of D and 3He can be employed to pose restrictions on the Standard Model of Big Bang nucleosynthesis is being actively discussed. In this work some aspects of this problem are discussed.