Stellar Mixing and the Primordial Lithium Abundance

Abstract

We compare the properties of recent samples of the lithium abundances in halo stars to one another and to the predictions of theoretical models including rotational mixing, and we examine the data for trends with metal abundance. We find from a KS test that in the absence of any correction for chemical evolution, the Ryan, Norris, & Beers (1999} sample is fully consistent with mild rotational mixing induced depletion and, therefore, with an initial lithium abundance higher than the observed value. Tests for outliers depend sensitively on the threshold for defining their presence, but we find a 10$--$45% probability that the RNB sample is drawn from the rotationally mixed models with a 0.2 dex median depletion (with lower probabilities corresponding to higher depletion factors). When chemical evolution trends (Li/H versus Fe/H) are treated in the linear plane we find that the dispersion in the RNB sample is not explained by chemical evolution; the inferred bounds on lithium depletion from rotational mixing are similar to those derived from models without chemical evolution. We find that differences in the equivalent width measurements are primarily responsible for different observational conclusions concerning the lithium dispersion in halo stars. The standard Big Bang Nucleosynthesis predicted lithium abundance which corresponds to the deuterium abundance inferred from observations of high-redshift, low-metallicity QSO absorbers requires halo star lithium depletion in an amount consistent with that from our models of rotational mixing, but inconsistent with no depletion.

39 pages, 9 figures; submitted ApJ

References in corpus (4)

• A New Measurement of the Primordial Abundance of Deuterium: Toward Convergence with the Baryon Density from the CMB?
• A new deuterium abundance measurement from a damped Ly-alpha system at z_abs = 3.025
• Atomic diffusion in metal-poor stars: II. Predictions for the Spite plateau
• On the possible existence of a self-regulating hydrodynamical process in slowly rotating stars II. Lithium Plateau in Halo Stars and Primordial Abundance

Cited by in corpus (74)

• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis: 2015
• Challenges for $\Lambda$CDM: An update
• Primordial Nucleosynthesis in the Precision Cosmology Era
• Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis and Gravitino
• Lithium isotopic abundances in metal-poor halo stars
• The cosmological baryon density from the deuterium to hydrogen ratio towards QSO absorption systems: D/H towards Q1243+3047
• Updated Big Bang Nucleosynthesis confronted to WMAP observations and to the Abundance of Light Elements
• A Bitter Pill: The Primordial Lithium Problem Worsens
• Primordial Nucleosynthesis in Light of WMAP
• Did Something Decay, Evaporate, or Annihilate during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis?
• Implications of WMAP observations on Li abundance and stellar evolution models
• Nuclear Reaction Network for Primordial Nucleosynthesis: a detailed analysis of rates, uncertainties and light nuclei yields
• A Realistic Determination of the Error on the Primordial Helium Abundance: Steps Toward Non-Parametric Nebular Helium Abundances
• Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Successes And Challenges
• Coupled Variations of Fundamental Couplings and Primordial Nucleosynthesis
• Observational evidence for a broken Li Spite plateau and mass-dependent Li depletion
• The Lithium Content of the Galactic Halo Stars
• Probing Physics Beyond the Standard Model: Limits from BBN and the CMB Independently and Combined
• Effects of Unstable Particles on Light-Element Abundances: Lithium versus Deuterium and He3
• The Dark Universe
• The Helium abundance and Delta Y / Delta Z in Lower Main Sequence stars
• Nucleosynthesis Constraints on a Massive Gravitino in Neutralino Dark Matter Scenarios
• Solving the Cosmic Lithium Problems with Gravitino Dark Matter in the CMSSM
• Bounds on long-lived charged massive particles from Big Bang nucleosynthesis
• BBN For Pedestrians
• Solar Neutrino Constraints on the BBN Production of Li
• The cosmic 6Li and 7Li problems and BBN with long-lived charged massive particles
• The Impact of New d(p,γ)He3 Rates on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Non-extensive Statistics Solution to the Cosmological Lithium Problem
• The 7Be(d,p)2alpha cross section at Big Bang energies and the primordial 7Li abundance
• Cosmic Rays from Dark Matter Annihilation and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
• From First Stars to the Spite Plateau: a Possible Reconciliation of Halo Stars Observations with Predictions from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Observational Tests and Predictive Stellar Evolution II: Non-standard Models
• Possible solution to the ${}^7$Li problem by the long lived stau
• Light element evolution resulting from WMAP data
• Resonant Destruction as a Possible Solution to the Cosmological Lithium Problem
• Rotation and Internal Structure of Population III Protostars
• Lithium-Rich Giants in Globular Clusters
• The age of the Milky Way halo stars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Cosmological Constraints on Gravitino LSP Scenario with Sneutrino NLSP
• On the baryometric status of He3
• Positron/Gamma-Ray Signatures of Dark Matter Annihilation and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Constraining the helium abundance with CMB
• Telling Three from Four Neutrinos with Cosmology
• Solving the cosmic lithium problems with primordial late-decaying particles
• Gravitino Dark Matter and the Cosmic Lithium Abundances
• Angular Momentum Transport by Internal Gravity Waves II- Pop II stars from the Li plateau to the horizontal branch
• Higher D or Li: Probes of Physics beyond the Standard Model
• Axion Dark Matter and Cosmological Parameters
• On the lithium content of the globular cluster M92
• The X^- Solution to the ^6Li and ^7Li Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Problems
• Implications of a new temperature scale for halo dwarfs on LiBeB and chemical evolution
• Cosmology Intertwined: A Review of the Particle Physics, Astrophysics, and Cosmology Associated with the Cosmological Tensions and Anomalies
• Precision Cosmology
• Revised Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with long-lived negatively charged massive particles: updated recombination rates, primordial 9Be nucleosynthesis, and impact of new 6Li limits
• Effects of Long-lived 10 MeV Scale Sterile Neutrino on Primordial Elemental Abundances and Effective Neutrino Number
• Beryllium Abundances of Solar-Analog Stars
• Stellar Hydrodynamics in Radiative Regions
• Neutrinos And Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Review on Effects of Long-lived Negatively Charged Massive Particles on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Reply to 'Comment on 'Heavy element production in inhomogeneous big bang nucleosynthesis''
• Beryllium in Ultra-Lithium-Deficient Halo Stars - The Blue Straggler Connection
• Impacts of Hawking Radiation from Primordial Black Holes in Critical Collapse Model on the Light Element Abundances
• Chemical separation of primordial Li${}^{+}$ during structure formation caused by nanogauss magnetic field
• Right-handed sneutrino dark matter and big-bang nucleosynthesis
• TASI Lectures on AstroParticle Physics
• Li and Be depletion in metal-poor subgiants
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Constraints on the Self-Gravity of Pressure
• The puzzling origin of the 6Li plateau
• Neutron Diffusion and Nucleosynthesis in an Inhomogeneous Big Bang Model
• Beryllium in the Ultra-Lithium-Deficient,Metal-Poor Halo Dwarf, G186-26
• Field Blue Stragglers and Related Mass Transfer Issues
• BBN and the Primordial Abundances
• Stellar spots cause measurable variations in atmospheric metallicity