BBN-simple: How to bake a universe-sized cake

IF 11.7 2区物理与天体物理 Q1 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

New Astronomy Reviews Pub Date : 2025-01-15 DOI:10.1016/j.newar.2025.101722

Aidan Meador-Woodruff , Dragan Huterer

{"title":"BBN-simple: How to bake a universe-sized cake","authors":"Aidan Meador-Woodruff , Dragan Huterer","doi":"10.1016/j.newar.2025.101722","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), the process of creation of lightest elements in the early universe, is a highly robust, precise, and ultimately successful theory that forms one of the three pillars of the standard hot-Big-Bang cosmological model. Existing theoretical treatments of BBN and the associated computer codes are accurate and flexible, but are typically highly technical and opaque, and not suitable for pedagogical understanding of the BBN. Here we present <span>BBN-simple</span> – a from-scratch numerical calculation of the lightest element abundances pitched at an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. We review the physics of the early universe relevant for BBN, provide information about the reaction rates, and discuss computational-mathematics background that is essential in setting up a BBN calculation. We calculate the abundances of the principal nuclear species in a standard cosmological model, and find a reasonably good agreement with public precision-level BBN codes. A condensed version of this paper and associated snippets of computer code are given at <span><span>http://www-personal.umich.edu/~aidanmw/</span><svg><path></path></svg></span>.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19718,"journal":{"name":"New Astronomy Reviews","volume":"100 ","pages":"Article 101722"},"PeriodicalIF":11.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"New Astronomy Reviews","FirstCategoryId":"101","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1387647325000016","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), the process of creation of lightest elements in the early universe, is a highly robust, precise, and ultimately successful theory that forms one of the three pillars of the standard hot-Big-Bang cosmological model. Existing theoretical treatments of BBN and the associated computer codes are accurate and flexible, but are typically highly technical and opaque, and not suitable for pedagogical understanding of the BBN. Here we present BBN-simple – a from-scratch numerical calculation of the lightest element abundances pitched at an advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate level. We review the physics of the early universe relevant for BBN, provide information about the reaction rates, and discuss computational-mathematics background that is essential in setting up a BBN calculation. We calculate the abundances of the principal nuclear species in a standard cosmological model, and find a reasonably good agreement with public precision-level BBN codes. A condensed version of this paper and associated snippets of computer code are given at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~aidanmw/.

查看原文本刊更多论文

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

New Astronomy Reviews 地学天文-天文与天体物理

CiteScore

18.60

自引率

1.70%

发文量

审稿时长

11.3 weeks

期刊介绍： New Astronomy Reviews publishes review articles in all fields of astronomy and astrophysics: theoretical, observational and instrumental. This international review journal is written for a broad audience of professional astronomers and astrophysicists. The journal covers solar physics, planetary systems, stellar, galactic and extra-galactic astronomy and astrophysics, as well as cosmology. New Astronomy Reviews is also open for proposals covering interdisciplinary and emerging topics such as astrobiology, astroparticle physics, and astrochemistry.