Nuclear Reactions of the Big Bang and the JINA Rate Compilation
Richard H. Cyburt. NSCL/JINA
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) remains one of the many successes of the hot big bang model of cosmology. BBN accurately predicts the primordial light element abundances of deuterium, helium and lithium. These predictions are dominated by nuclear reaction rate uncertainties, therefore using regularly updated nuclear input is key to making accurate BBN predictions. The JINA database presents reaction rates of relevance for various nuclear astrophysical processes, including BBN. I will discuss the reaction 3He(alpha,gamma)7Be; its importance in understanding the so-called "Li-problem" and how new experimental data has impacted BBN predictions. As more data becomes available, the JINA Reaction Rate Database stands out as an important tool and diagnostic for nuclear astrophysics, strengthening the connection between nuclear experiment and theory with astrophysical modeling and observations. http://www.nscl.msu.edu/~nero/db/