Nuclear physics experiments give reaction rates that, via modelling and comparison with primordial abundances, constrain cosmological parameters. The error bars of a key reaction, D(p,γ)3He, were tightened in 2020, revealing discrepancies between different analyses and calling for more accurate measurements of other reactions.
References
Planck Collaboration, Aghanim, N., Akrami, Y. et al. Planck 2018 results - VI. Cosmological parameters. A&A 641, A6 (2020).
Mossa, V., Stöckel, K., Cavanna, F. et al. The baryon density of the Universe from an improved rate of deuterium burning. Nature 587, 210–213 (2020).
Pisanti, O., Mangano, G., Miele, G. & Mazzella, P. Primordial deuterium after LUNA: concordances and error budget. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.11537 (2020).
Yeh, T.-H., Olive, K. A. & Fields, B. D. The impact of new d(p,γ)He3 rates on big bang nucleosynthesis. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.13874 (2020).
Pitrou, C., Coc, A., Uzan, J.-P. & Vangioni, E. A new tension in the cosmological model from primordial deuterium? Mon. Notices Royal Astron. Soc. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stab135 (2021).
Cooke, R. J., Pettini, M. & Steidel, C. C. One percent determination of the primordial deuterium abundance. Astrophys. J. 855, 102 (2018).
Xu, Y. et al. NACRE II: an update of the NACRE compilation of charged-particle-induced thermonuclear reaction rates for nuclei with mass number A<16. Nucl. Phys. A 918, 61–169 (2013).
Fields, B. D., Olive, K. A., Yeh, T.-H. & Young, C. Big-Bang nucleosynthesis after Planck. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 2020, 010 (2020).
Pitrou, C., Coc, A., Uzan, J.-P. & Vangioni, E. Precision big bang nucleosynthesis with improved Helium-4 predictions. Phys. Rep. 754, 1–66 (2018).
Ando, S., Cyburt, R. H., Hong, S. W. & Hyun, C. H. Radiative neutron capture on a proton at big-bang nucleosynthesis energies. Phys. Rev. C 74, 025809 (2006).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pitrou, C., Coc, A., Uzan, JP. et al. Resolving conclusions about the early Universe requires accurate nuclear measurements. Nat Rev Phys 3, 231–232 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-021-00294-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-021-00294-6
- Springer Nature Limited