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)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

35 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

Publisher link

10.1086/186159

Find It

Find It at U of M Libraries

Cite this

@article{b0e88207266f423d94a2e851e5c5f42b,

title = "The upper bound to the primordial abundance of helium and the consistency of the hot big bang model",

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.",

keywords = "Abundances, Cosmology, Early universe, Nebulae: H II regions",

author = "Olive, \{Keith A.\} and Gary Steigman and Walker, \{Terry P.\}",

year = "1991",

month = oct,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1086/186159",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "380",

pages = "L1--L4",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "American Astronomical Society",

number = "1 PART 2",

}

TY - JOUR

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

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0039738871

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0039738871#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1086/186159

DO - 10.1086/186159

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:0039738871

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 380

SP - L1-L4

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 1 PART 2

ER -

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

Abstract

Keywords

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this