The upper bound to the primordial abundance of helium and the consistency of the hot big bang model

Keith A. Olive; Gary Steigman; Terry P. Walker

doi:10.1086/186159

The upper bound to the primordial abundance of helium and the consistency of the hot big bang model

Keith A. Olive, Gary Steigman, Terry P. Walker

Physics and Astronomy (Twin Cities)

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34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Consistency of the primordial abundance of ⁴He with the predictions of big bang nucleosynthesis provides a key test of the standard model of cosmology. Recent calculations predict that the primordial mass fraction of ⁴He, Y_p, should exceed 0.236. The helium abundances determined from the observations of 38 metal-poor extragalactic H II regions are used to infer a 95% CL statistical upper bound to Y_p which, depending on the specific method employed to extrapolate the data, and/or the subsets of data used in 1, 2, 3, or 4 parameter fits, yields Y_p ≤ 0.237-0.243.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	L1-L4
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	380
Issue number	1 PART 2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/186159
State	Published - Oct 10 1991

Keywords

Abundances
Cosmology
Early universe
Nebulae: H II regions

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10.1086/186159

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abstract = "Consistency of the primordial abundance of 4He with the predictions of big bang nucleosynthesis provides a key test of the standard model of cosmology. Recent calculations predict that the primordial mass fraction of 4He, Yp, should exceed 0.236. The helium abundances determined from the observations of 38 metal-poor extragalactic H II regions are used to infer a 95% CL statistical upper bound to Yp which, depending on the specific method employed to extrapolate the data, and/or the subsets of data used in 1, 2, 3, or 4 parameter fits, yields Yp ≤ 0.237-0.243.",

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T1 - The upper bound to the primordial abundance of helium and the consistency of the hot big bang model

AU - Olive, Keith A.

AU - Steigman, Gary

AU - Walker, Terry P.

PY - 1991/10/10

Y1 - 1991/10/10

N2 - Consistency of the primordial abundance of 4He with the predictions of big bang nucleosynthesis provides a key test of the standard model of cosmology. Recent calculations predict that the primordial mass fraction of 4He, Yp, should exceed 0.236. The helium abundances determined from the observations of 38 metal-poor extragalactic H II regions are used to infer a 95% CL statistical upper bound to Yp which, depending on the specific method employed to extrapolate the data, and/or the subsets of data used in 1, 2, 3, or 4 parameter fits, yields Yp ≤ 0.237-0.243.

AB - Consistency of the primordial abundance of 4He with the predictions of big bang nucleosynthesis provides a key test of the standard model of cosmology. Recent calculations predict that the primordial mass fraction of 4He, Yp, should exceed 0.236. The helium abundances determined from the observations of 38 metal-poor extragalactic H II regions are used to infer a 95% CL statistical upper bound to Yp which, depending on the specific method employed to extrapolate the data, and/or the subsets of data used in 1, 2, 3, or 4 parameter fits, yields Yp ≤ 0.237-0.243.

KW - Abundances

KW - Cosmology

KW - Early universe

KW - Nebulae: H II regions

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JF - Astrophysical Journal

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ER -

The upper bound to the primordial abundance of helium and the consistency of the hot big bang model

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