Non-detection of ${}^6$Li in Spite plateau stars with ESPRESSO

Abstract

The detection of ${}^6$Li in Spite plateau stars contradicts the standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis prediction, known as the second cosmological lithium problem. We measure the isotopic ratio ${}^6$Li/${}^7$Li in three Spite plateau stars: HD 84937, HD 140283, and LP 815-43. We use 3D NLTE radiative transfer and for the first time apply this to high resolution, high-S/N data from the ultra-stable VLT/ESPRESSO spectrograph. These are amongst the best spectra ever taken of any metal-poor stars. As the measurement of ${}^6$Li/${}^7$Li is degenerate with other physical stellar parameters, we employ Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to find the probability distributions of measured parameters. As a test of systematics we also use three different fitting methods. We do not detect ${}^6$Li in any of the three stars, and find consistent results between our different methods. We estimate 2$\sigma$ upper limits to ${}^6$Li/${}^7$Li of 0.7%, 0.6%, and 1.7% respectively for HD 84937, HD 140283, and LP 815-43. Our results indicate that there is no second cosmological lithium problem, as there is no evidence of ${}^6$Li in Spite Plateau stars.

17 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

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