15–20 Jun 2025
Girona
Europe/Brussels timezone

Ending the second cosmological Li problem

18 Jun 2025, 09:30
15m
Girona

Girona

Palau de Congressos de Girona Pg. de la Devesa, 35 17001 Girona

Speaker

Ella Wang (Stockholm University)

Description

Lithium is the heaviest element produced during Big Bang nucleosynthesis. The amount produced can be predicted through the cosmic microwave background and measured through old metal-poor stars. Li has two stable isotopes, with Li-7 being more abundant than Li-6. In particular, the detection of Li-6 in old metal-poor halo stars contradicts the Big Bang nucleosynthesis prediction by 5 orders of magnitude; this disagreement is known as the second cosmological lithium problem. We investigate the detections of Li-6 within three stars through the use of ESPRESSO@VLT observations and state-of-the-art synthetic spectra. We do not detect Li-6 in any star, indicating that there is no second cosmological lithium problem. This is consistent with Galactic modelling assuming Li destruction in old metal-poor stars.

Author

Ella Wang (Stockholm University)

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