Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Cosmology

A baryometer is back

Nature volume 415, pages 27–29 (2002)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 17 January 2002

The usefulness of helium-3 as a probe of the early Universe has been in doubt. A rethink of stellar theory and new observational data put those doubts to rest.

Do we live in an open Universe that will expand forever, or in a closed Universe whose expansion will eventually reverse? Part of the answer can be found by accurately estimating the amount of ordinary — baryonic — matter in the Universe. One way of reaching such an estimate stems from one of the predictions of Big Bang theory: that production of light nuclei (deuterium, helium-3, helium-4 and lithium-7) occurred within the first seconds of the Universe, in a process known as Big Bang nucleosynthesis. A precise measurement of cosmological baryon density requires determination of the primordial abundances of light nuclei, and for those estimates to be consistent with each other1.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Big Bang nucleosynthesis predictions for the primordial nuclei.

References

  1. Yang, J., Turner, M. S., Schramm, D. N., Steigman, G. & Olive, K. A. Astrophys. J. 281, 493–511 (1984).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bania, T. M., Rood, R. T. & Balser, D. S. Nature 415, 54–57 (2002).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Rood, R. T., Steigman, G. & Tinsley, B. M. Astrophys. J. 207, L57 (1976).

  4. Gloecker, G. & Geiss, J. Space Sci. Rev. 84, 275–284 (1998).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Charbonnel, C. & do Nascimento, J. D. Jr Astron. Astrophys. 336, 915–919 (1998).

    CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kirkman, D., Tytler, D., Burles, S., Lubin, D. & O'Meara, J. M. Astrophys. J. 529, 655–660 (2000).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Izotov, Y. I. & Thuan, T. X. Astrophys. J. 500, 188–216 (1998).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Stompor, R. et al. Astrophys. J. 561, L7–L10 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Tytler, D. et al. Physica Scripta T85, 12–31 (2000).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d'Astrophysique CNRS, Observatoire Midi-Pyrénees, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, Toulouse, F-31400, France

    Corinne Charbonnel

Authors
  1. Corinne Charbonnel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corinne Charbonnel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Charbonnel, C. A baryometer is back. Nature 415, 27–29 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/415027a

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/415027a

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing