Cosmological Implications of the First Measurement of the Local ISM Abundance of ${}^3$He

Abstract

Deuterium plays a crucial role in testing big-bang nucleosynthesis. Its chemical evolution, while simple (it is burned to ${}^3$He), is intertwined with the more complicated evolution of ${}^3$He. Gloeckler \& Geiss' new measurement of the ${}^3$He abundance and the HST measurement of D, both in the local ISM today, can be compared to the pre-solar nebula abundances of D and ${}^3$He. Within the uncertainties, the sum of D + ${}^3$He relative to hydrogen is unchanged. This provides some validation of the cosmological utility of D + ${}^3$He, first suggested by Yang et al (1984), and further, indicates that over the past 4.5 Gyr there has been at most modest stellar production of ${}^3$He, in contradiction with stellar modeling, or modest stellar destruction of ${}^3$He, in contradiction with some ``solar spoons.'' While the earlier Galactic evolution of D + ${}^3$He cannot be constrained directly, it is expected to be dominated by massive stars, which deplete their ${}^3$He and produce metals. Based on the Galactic metallicity and the constancy of D + ${}^3$He over the past 4.5 Gyr, we derive a more empirically based lower bound to the cosmological baryon density; while not dramatically different from the original bound of Yang et al (1984) based on D + ${}^3$He, it alleviates some of the cosmic tension between the big-bang ${}^4$He abundance and those of D and ${}^3$He.

15 pages + 2 figures (included as eps files using epsf.sty and rotate.sty), submitted to Nature

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