Primordial Abundance Research Articles

Effect of Magnetic Field Dissipation on Primordial Li Abundance

Abstract The dissipation effects of primordial magnetic fields on the primordial elemental abundances were investigated. When a magnetic field reconnects, its energy is converted to the kinetic energy of charged particles, as observed for solar energetic particles arriving on Earth. This accelerates the cosmic background nuclei and energetic nuclei induce nonthermal reactions. A constraint on the dissipation is derived from a theoretical calculation of the nonthermal reactions during Big Bang nucleosynthesis. We found that observations of the Li and D abundances can be explained if 0.01%–0.1% of the cosmic energy density was utilized for nuclear acceleration after the electron–positron annihilation epoch. Reconnections of such amplitudes of magnetic fields generate outgoing jets, the bulk velocity of which evolves to values appropriate for cosmic-ray (CR) nuclear energies of 0.1–1 MeV necessary for successful CR nucleosynthesis. Therefore, acceleration of cosmic background nuclei during the dissipation of primordial magnetic fields is a possible generation mechanism of soft CRs that has been suggested as a solution to the cosmic Li problem. Among the solutions suggested without exotic physics, only the dissipating magnetic field model suggested here explains observations of both low Li and high D abundances. Our results demonstrate that signatures of strong magnetic fields in the early universe have been observed in primordial elemental abundances.

The Interstellar Medium of Dwarf Galaxies

Dwarf galaxies are by far the most numerous galaxies in the Universe, showing properties that are quite different from those of their larger and more luminous cousins. This review focuses on the physical and chemical properties of the interstellar medium of those dwarfs that are known to host significant amounts of gas and dust. The neutral and ionized gas components and the impact of the dust will be discussed, as well as first indications for the existence of active nuclei in these sources. Cosmological implications are also addressed, considering the primordial helium abundance and the similarity of local Green Pea galaxies with young, sometimes protogalactic sources in the early Universe.

Gradients of chemical abundances in the Milky Way from H ii regions: distances derived from Gaia EDR3 parallaxes and temperature inhomogeneities

ABSTRACT We present a reassessment of the radial abundance gradients of He, C, N, O, Ne, S, Cl, and Ar in the Milky Way using the deep optical spectra of 42 H ii regions presented in Arellano-Córdova et al. (2020, 2021) and Méndez-Delgado et al. (2020) exploring the impact of: (1) new distance determinations based on Gaia EDR3 parallaxes and (2) the use of Peimbert’s temperature fluctuations paradigm (t2 > 0) for deriving ionic abundances. We find that distances based on Gaia EDR3 data are more consistent with kinematic ones based on Galactic rotation curves calibrated with radio parallaxes, which give less dispersion and uncertainties than those calibrated with spectrophotometric stellar distances. The distances based on the Gaia parallaxes – DR2 or EDR3 – eliminate the internal flattening observed in previous determinations of the Galactic gradients at smaller distances than ∼7 kpc. Abundances and gradients determined assuming t2 > 0 – not only for O but also for the rest of elements – are not affected by the abundance discrepancy problem and give elemental abundances much consistent with the solar ones for most elements. We find that our radial abundance gradient of He is consistent with the most accurate estimates of the primordial He abundance. We do not find evidence of azimuthal variations in the chemical abundances of our sample. Moreover, the small dispersion in the O gradient – indicator of metallicity in photoionized regions – indicate that the gas of the H ii regions is well mixed in the sampled areas of the Galaxy.

Probing the early Universe from deep underground

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) occurs during the first minutes of cosmological time in a rapidly expanding hot and dense Universe, where a fraction of protons and nearly all free neutrons end up bound in 4He, while D, 3H, 3He, 6Li, 7Li and 7Be nuclei form in trace quantities. Among these elements, deuterium is an excellent indicator of cosmological parameters because its abundance is highly sensitive to the primordial baryon density and to the number of relativistic species. Although astronomical observations of primordial deuterium abundance have reached percent accuracy, theoretical predictions based on BBN were hampered by large uncertainties on the cross-section of the deuterium burning D(p,γ)3He reaction, before the LUNA measurement. In the following, I will report the results of the experimental campaign carried on at LUNA and its cosmological implications.

Experimental studies on astrophysical reactions at the low-energy RI beam separator CRIB

Experimental studies on astrophysical reactions involving radioactive isotopes (RI) often accompany technical challenges. Studies on such nuclear reactions have been conducted at the low-energy RI beam separator CRIB, operated by Center for Nuclear Study, the University of Tokyo. We discuss two cases of astrophysical reaction studies at CRIB; one is for the 7Be+n reactions which may affect the primordial 7Li abundance in the Big-Bang nucleosynthesis, and the other is for the 22Mg(α, p) reaction relevantin X-raybursts.

The Origin of Cosmic Structures Part 4—Nucleosynthesis

In our original paper, we outlined a new model of nucleosynthesis which began when a small percentage of the vacuum energy was converted primarily into neutron-antineutron pairs but with a very small excess of neutrons. In this paper, we present a detailed study of that original idea. We show that immediately after their inception, annihilation and charge exchange reactions proceeded at a very high rate and after an interval of no more than 10-12 s, the matter/antimatter asymmetry of the universe and the present-day abundance of baryons had been established. The annihilations produced the high density of leptons critical for the weak interactions and the photons that make up the CMB. The model predicts a photon temperature in agreement with the present-day CMB value and also explains the origin of the CMB anisotropy spectrum. We also show how the nucleosynthesis density variations needed to explain all cosmic structures can resolve the difficulties that arise when trying to explain observed primordial element abundances in terms of a single-density universal model of nucleosynthesis.

Lithium on the lower red giant branch of five Galactic globular clusters

Context. Lithium is one of the few elements produced during Big Bang nucleosynthesis in the early universe. Moreover, its fragility makes it useful as a proxy for stellar environmental conditions. As such, the lithium abundance in old systems is at the core of various astrophysical investigations. Aims. Stars on the lower red giant branch are key to studies of globular clusters where main sequence stars are too faint to be observed. We use these stars to analyze the initial Li content of the clusters and compare it to cosmological predictions, to measure spreads in Li between different stellar populations, and to study signs of extra depletion in these giants. Methods. We used the GIRAFFE spectra to measure the lithium and sodium abundances of lower red giant branch stars in five globular clusters. These cover an extensive range in metallicity, from [Fe/H] ∼ −0.7 to [Fe/H] ∼ −2.3 dex. Results. We find that the lithium abundance in these lower red giant branch stars forms a plateau, with values from A(Li)NLTE = 0.84 to 1.03 dex, showing no clear correlation with metallicity. When using stellar evolutionary models to calculate the primordial abundance of these clusters, we recover values of A(Li)NLTE = 2.1 − 2.3 dex, consistent with the constant value observed in warm metal-poor halo stars, namely the Spite plateau. Additionally, we find no difference in the lithium abundance of first and second population stars in each cluster. We also report the discovery of a Li-rich giant in the cluster NGC 3201, with A(Li)NLTE = 1.63 ± 0.18 dex, where the enrichment mechanism is probably pollution from external sources.

Gravitational waves and primordial black holes from supersymmetric hybrid inflation

We study the effect of supergravity corrections due to a linear and a bilinear term in the K\"ahler potential, in the context of a supersymmetric hybrid inflation model. By appropriate choice of the parameters associated to these terms, we are able to satisfy the main cosmological constraints for the spectral index $n_s$ and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$. In addition, this model predicts primordial black hole abundance enough to account for the whole dark matter of the Universe and gravitational wave spectra within the reach of future detection experiments. The predictions of the model can be made compatible to the NANOGrav reported signal, at the cost of significantly lower primordial black hole abundance.

Distribution function of nuclei from e± scattering in the presence of a strong primordial magnetic field

The amplitude of the primordial magnetic field (PMF) is constrained from observational limits on primordial nuclear abundances. Within this constraint, it is possible that nuclear motion is regulated by Coulomb scattering with electrons and positrons ($e^\pm$'s), while $e^\pm$'s are affected by a PMF rather than collisions. For example, at a temperature of $10^9$ K, thermal nuclei typically experience $\sim 10^{21}$ scatterings per second that are dominated by very small angle scattering leading to minuscule changes in the nuclear kinetic energy of order $\mathcal{O}$(1) eV. In this paper the upper limit on the effects of a possible discretization of the $e^\pm$ momenta by the PMF on the nuclear momentum distribution is estimated under the extreme assumptions that the momentum of the $e^\pm$ is relaxed before and after Coulomb scattering to Landau levels, and that during Coulomb scattering the PMF is neglected. This assumption explicitly breaks the time reversal invariance of Coulomb scattering, and the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution is not a trivial steady state solution of the Boltzmann equation under these assumptions. We numerically evaluate the collision terms in the Boltzmann equation, and show that the introduction of a special direction in the $e^\pm$ distribution by the PMF generates no directional dependence of the collisional destruction term of nuclei. Large anisotropies in the nuclear distribution function are then constrained from big bang nucleosynthesis. Ultimately, we conclude that a PMF does not significantly affect the isotropy or BBN.

Bayesian Estimation of the D(p,γ)3He Thermonuclear Reaction Rate

Abstract Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is the standard model theory for the production of light nuclides during the early stages of the universe, taking place about 20 minutes after the big bang. Deuterium production, in particular, is highly sensitive to the primordial baryon density and the number of neutrino species, and its abundance serves as a sensitive test for the conditions in the early universe. The comparison of observed deuterium abundances with predicted ones requires reliable knowledge of the relevant thermonuclear reaction rates and their corresponding uncertainties. Recent observations reported the primordial deuterium abundance with percent accuracy, but some theoretical predictions based on BBN are in tension with the measured values because of uncertainties in the cross section of the deuterium-burning reactions. In this work, we analyze the S-factor of the D(p,γ)3He reaction using a hierarchical Bayesian model. We take into account the results of 11 experiments, spanning the period of 1955–2021, more than any other study. We also present results for two different fitting functions, a two-parameter function based on microscopic nuclear theory and a four-parameter polynomial. Our recommended reaction rates have a 2.2% uncertainty at 0.8 GK, which is the temperature most important for deuterium BBN. Differences between our rates and previous results are discussed.

Primordial big bang nucleosynthesis and generalized uncertainty principle

The Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) naturally emerges in several quantum gravity models, predicting the existence of a minimal length at Planck scale. Here, we consider the quadratic GUP as a semiclassical approach to thermodynamic gravity and constrain the deformation parameter by using observational bounds from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and primordial abundances of the light elements {}^4 He, D, {}^7 Li. We show that our result fits with most of existing bounds on beta derived from other cosmological studies.

Nucleosynthetic signatures of primordial origin around supermassive black holes

If primordial black holes (PBHs) seeded the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at the centers of high-redshift quasars, then the gas surrounding these black holes may reveal nucleosynthetic clues to their primordial origins. We present predictions of altered primordial abundances around PBHs massive enough to seed SMBHs at z~6-7.5. We find that if PBHs with initial masses of ~10^5 M$_{\odot}$ are responsible for such SMBHs, they may produce primordial Deuterium and Helium fractions enhanced by >~ 10%, and Lithium abundance depleted by >~10%, at distances of up to ~ a comoving kiloparsec away from the black hole after decoupling. We estimate that ~ 10^8 M$_{\odot}$ of gas is enhanced (or depleted) by at least one percent. Evidence of these modified primordial Deuterium, Helium, and Lithium abundances could still be present if this circum-PBH gas remains unaccreted by the SMBH and in or near the host galaxies of high-redshift quasars. Measuring the abundance anomalies will be challenging, but could offer a novel way to reveal the primordial origin of such SMBH seeds.

A comprehensive chemical abundance analysis of the extremely metal poor Leoncino Dwarf galaxy (AGC 198691)

ABSTRACT We re-examine the extremely metal-poor dwarf galaxy AGC 198691 using a high quality spectrum obtained by the LBT’s MODS instrument. Previous spectral observations obtained from KOSMOS on the Mayall 4-m and the Blue channel spectrograph on the MMT 6.5-m telescope did not allow for the determination of sulfur, argon, or helium abundances. We report an updated and full chemical abundance analysis for AGC 198691, including confirmation of the extremely low “direct” oxygen abundance with a value of 12 + log (O/H) = 7.06 ± 0.03. AGC 198691’s low metallicity potentially makes it a high value target for helping determine the primordial helium abundance (Yp). Though complicated by a Na i night sky line partially overlaying the He i λ5876 emission line, the LBT/MODS spectrum proved adequate for determining AGC 198691’s helium abundance. We employ the recently expanded and improved model of Aver et al., incorporating higher Balmer and Paschen lines, augmented by the observation of the infrared helium emission line He i λ10830 obtained by Hsyu et al. Applying our full model produced a reliable helium abundance determination, consistent with the expectation for its metallicity. Although this is the lowest metallicity object with a detailed helium abundance, unfortunately, due to its faintness [EW(Hβ) < 100 Å] and the compromised He i λ5876, the resultant uncertainty on the helium abundance is too large to allow a significant improvement on the measurement of Yp.

Cosmological black holes are not described by the Thakurta metric: LIGO-Virgo bounds on PBHs remain unchanged

We show that the physical conditions which induce the Thakurta metric, recently studied by Bœhm et al. in the context of time-dependent black hole masses, correspond to a single accreting compact object in the entire Universe filled with isotropic non-interacting dust. In such a case, accretion physics is not local but tied to the properties of the whole Universe. We show that radiation, primordial black holes or particle dark matter cannot produce the specific energy flux required for supporting the mass growth of the compact objects described by the Thakurta metric. In particular, this solution does not apply to black hole binaries. We conclude that compact dark matter candidates and their mass growth cannot be described by the Thakurta metric, and thus existing constraints on the primordial black hole abundance from the LIGO-Virgo and the CMB measurements remain valid.

Constraints on ΛCDM extensions from the SPT-3G 2018 EE and TE power spectra

We present constraints on extensions to the ΛCDM cosmological model from measurements of the E-mode polarization autopower spectrum and the temperature-E-mode cross-power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) made using 2018 SPT-3G data. The extensions considered vary the primordial helium abundance, the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, the sum of neutrino masses, the relativistic energy density and mass of a sterile neutrino, and the mean spatial curvature. We do not find clear evidence for any of these extensions, from either the SPT-3G 2018 dataset alone or in combination with baryon acoustic oscillation and Planck data. None of these model extensions significantly relax the tension between Hubble-constant, H0, constraints from the CMB and from distance-ladder measurements using Cepheids and supernovae. The addition of the SPT-3G 2018 data to Planck reduces the square-root of the determinants of the parameter covariance matrices by factors of 1.3–2.0 across these models, signaling a substantial reduction in the allowed parameter volume. We also explore CMB-based constraints on H0 from combined SPT, Planck, and ACT DR4 datasets. While individual experiments see some indications of different H0 values between the TT, TE, and EE spectra, the combined H0 constraints are consistent between the three spectra. For the full combined datasets, we report H0=67.49±0.53 km s−1 Mpc−1, which is the tightest constraint on H0 from CMB power spectra to date and in 4.1σ tension with the most precise distance-ladder-based measurement of H0. The SPT-3G survey is planned to continue through at least 2023, with existing maps of combined 2019 and 2020 data already having ∼3.5×lower noise than the maps used in this analysis.Received 29 March 2021Accepted 18 August 2021DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.104.083509© 2021 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasCosmic microwave backgroundCosmological parametersCosmologyGravitation, Cosmology & Astrophysics

New Thermonuclear Rate of 7Li(d,n)24He Relevant to the Cosmological Lithium Problem

Abstract Accurate 7Li(d,n)24He thermonuclear reaction rates are crucial for precise prediction of the primordial abundances of lithium and beryllium and to probe the mysteries beyond fundamental physics and the standard cosmological model. However, uncertainties still exist in current reaction rates of 7Li(d,n)24He widely used in big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) simulations. In this work, we reevaluate the 7Li(d,n)24He reaction rate using the latest data on the three near-threshold 9Be excited states from experimental measurements. We present for the first time uncertainties that are directly constrained by experiments. Additionally, we take into account for the first time the contribution from the subthreshold resonance at 16.671 MeV of 9Be. We obtain a 7Li(d,n)24He rate that is overall smaller than the previous estimation by about a factor of 60 at the typical temperature of the onset of primordial nucleosynthesis. We implemented our new rate in BBN calculations, and we show that the new rates have a very limited impact on the final light element abundances in uniform density models. Typical abundance variations are in the order of 0.002%. For nonuniform density BBN models, the predicted 7Li production can be increased by 10% and the primordial production of light nuclides with mass number A > 7 can be increased by about 40%. Our results confirm that the cosmological lithium problem remains a long-standing unresolved puzzle from the standpoint of nuclear physics.

Primordial nucleosynthesis with varying fundamental constants

The success of primordial nucleosynthesis has been limited by the long-standing lithium problem. We use a self-consistent perturbative analysis of the effects of the relevant theoretical parameters on primordial nucleosynthesis, including variations of nature’s fundamental constants, to explore the problem and its possible solutions in the context of the latest observations and theoretical modeling. We quantify the amount of depletion needed to solve the lithium problem, and show that transport processes of chemical elements in stars are able to account for it. Specifically, the combination of atomic diffusion, rotation, and penetrative convection allows us to reproduce the lithium surface abundances of Population II stars, starting from the primordial lithium abundance. We also show that even with this depletion factor, a preference for a value of the fine-structure constant at this epoch remains that is larger than the value currently obtained in the laboratory by a few parts per million of relative variation at a statistical significance level of two to three standard deviations. This preference is driven by the recently reported discrepancy between the best-fit values for the baryon-to-photon ratio (or equivalently, the Deuterium abundance) inferred from cosmic microwave background and primordial nucleosynthesis analyses, and is largely insensitive to the Helium-4 abundance. We thus conclude that the lithium problem most likely has an astrophysical solution, while the Deuterium discrepancy provides a possible indication of new physics.

Constraining the Primordial Lithium Abundance: New Cross Section Measurement of the 7Be + n Reactions Updates the Total 7Be Destruction Rate

Abstract The cosmological lithium problem (CLP) stems from the outstanding discrepancy between theoretical predictions and astronomical observations of primordial lithium abundances. For the radiogenic production of 7Li, 7Be plays a pivotal role in the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). Nevertheless, the data for neutron-induced 7Be destruction processes were still sparse, and especially lacked information on the contributions of transitions to the 7Li excited states. In this work, we have determined the 7Be ( n , p 0 ) 7 Li, 7Be ( n , p 1 ) 7 Li*, and 7Be ( n , α ) 4 He reaction cross sections by means of the Trojan Horse method. The present and the previous data were analyzed together by a multichannel R-matrix fit, providing an improved uncertainty evaluation of the ( n , p 0 ) channel and the first-ever quantification of the ( n , p 1 ) contribution in the BBN-relevant energy range. We implemented the revised total reaction rate summing both the ( n , p 0 ) and ( n , p 1 ) contributions in a state-of-the-art BBN code PRIMAT. As a consequence, the present nuclear-physics data offers a reduction of the predicted 7Li abundance by about one-tenth, which would impose a stricter constraint on BBN and head us in the correct direction to the CLP solution.

Noble gases in CM carbonaceous chondrites: Effect of parent body aqueous and thermal alteration and cosmic ray exposure ages

Like most primitive carbonaceous chondrites, the CM chondrites experienced varying degrees of asteroidal aqueous alteration, which may have overprinted pre-accretionary processing. Several aqueous alteration scales for CM chondrites (and other carbonaceous chondrites) have been proposed based on alteration-dependent changes in various petrological and geochemical characteristics. Given the possibility that the intensity of aqueous alteration could be recorded in the primordial noble gas compositions, we test potential correlations between petrologic, geochemical and noble gas characteristics in a detailed study on 39 CM chondrites, including some of the most pristine CM chondrites identified to date, and 4 CM-related carbonaceous chondrites. We mainly compare our noble gas data with the alteration schemes proposed by Alexander et al. (2013) and Howard et al. (2015). In addition to the noble gas analyses, we determined the phyllosilicate fractions of 17 of the CM chondrites using X-ray diffraction (XRD) to complement missing data points in the Howard alteration scheme. The influence of post-hydration thermal modification on noble gases in CM chondrites is investigated by comparison of heated and unheated samples. Cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) ages are determined for all samples in this study as well as for 26 more samples based on CM chondrite literature noble gas data.The noble gas inventory in CM chondrites represents a mixture of cosmogenic, radiogenic, and abundant primordially trapped noble gases. Additionally, about 50 % of our CM bulk samples contain detectable solar wind (SW), which implies that many but not all CM chondrites are regolith breccias or carry SW from a pre-accretion irradiation phase. Aqueous alteration affects primordial noble gas abundances and elemental and isotopic compositions in CM chondrites. In particular, the process causes loss of an Ar-rich component, different in elemental and isotopic composition to known noble gas components. This component is lost during the early stages of aqueous alteration until complete degassing of its carrier material (possibly upon at least partial destruction) below petrologic type of ~1.5 on the Howard et al. (2015) scale. Likely, small amounts of Q gases were additionally released by aqueous alteration. Strong thermal modification at >750 °C results in a significant additional loss of noble gases, whereas peak temperatures <500 °C likely have minor effects on the noble gas inventories of CM chondrites. Some of the described trends of noble gas contents and elemental and isotopic ratios in this study are observable across multiple carbonaceous chondrite groups, in particular also the CR chondrites. Hence, these carbonaceous chondrites may have started with similar initial noble gas inventories due to accretion of material from a common reservoir. The CRE ages of most of our CM samples fall within the typical range of <10 Myr previously observed for CM chondrites. A few CM chondrites, however, show longer CRE ages, with the longest CRE age of ~20Myr determined for the SW-rich CM Allan Hills (ALH) 85013. The degree of aqueous and thermal alteration is variable among CM chondrites with similar CRE ages.

Chemical abundances in seven metal-poor H ii regions and a determination of the primordial helium abundance

ABSTRACT We conducted a long-slit spectrophotometry analysis to obtain the chemical abundances of seven metal-poor H ii regions in three galaxies: UM 160, UM 420, and TOL 0513−393. The data have been taken with the Focal Reducer Low Dispersion Spectrograph 1 (FORS1) at the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope. We derived the physical conditions and the chemical abundances of N, O, Ne, S, Ar, and Cl. We also performed a detailed analysis that involves abundance determinations using the t2 formalism. Based on He i recombination line intensity ratios, together with the {\sc HELIO 14} code, we derived the abundance of He. In addition, for a value $\Delta Y/\Delta Z_O \rm =3.3\pm 0.7$, we have estimated that the primordial helium abundance by mass is YP = 0.2448 ± 0.0033. This value agrees with values derived from Standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and with other recent determinations of YP.