LiBeB, Cosmic Rays and Gamma-Ray Line Astronomy

This article is a summary of a recently held conference on the light elements, Li, Be and B, and their relationship to cosmic-ray origin and gamma-ray astronomy. The proceedings will be published by the PASP.Comment: latex 6 pages, uses aasms4.sty To appear in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (PASP

Lithium-Beryllium-Boron Evolution: From Meneguzzi, Audouze and Reeves 1971 Up to Now

We review the main sources of LiBeB production and show that a primary mechanism is at work in the early Galaxy involving both ejection and acceleration of He, C and O at moderate energy, which by nuclear interaction with H and He produce light isotopes. The precise measurement of the Be abundance at [Fe/H] = -3.3 and of $^6Li$ in halo stars find an explanation in this framework. Thus, the preservation of $^6Li$ in the atmosphere of metal poor stars implied, points toward the fact the Spite plateau reflects the primordial value of Li. Consequently, it can be used as a baryodensitometer.Comment: 6 pages, no figure, invited talk, to be published in World Scientific, Proceedings of the conference "Cosmic Evolution" in the honor of Jean Audouze and James W. Truran, held at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, Franc

The Primordial Lithium Problem

Big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) theory, together with the precise WMAP cosmic baryon density, makes tight predictions for the abundances of the lightest elements. Deuterium and 4He measurements agree well with expectations, but 7Li observations lie a factor 3-4 below the BBN+WMAP prediction. This 4-5\sigma\ mismatch constitutes the cosmic "lithium problem," with disparate solutions possible. (1) Astrophysical systematics in the observations could exist but are increasingly constrained. (2) Nuclear physics experiments provide a wealth of well-measured cross-section data, but 7Be destruction could be enhanced by unknown or poorly-measured resonances, such as 7Be + 3He -> 10C^* -> p + 9B. (3) Physics beyond the Standard Model can alter the 7Li abundance, though D and 4He must remain unperturbed; we discuss such scenarios, highlighting decaying Supersymmetric particles and time-varying fundamental constants. Present and planned experiments could reveal which (if any) of these is the solution to the problem.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures. Per Annual Reviews policy, this is the original submitted draft. Posted with permission from the Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Volume 61. Annual Reviews, http://www.annualreviews.org . Final published version at http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-nucl-102010-13044

Updated constraint on a primordial magnetic field during big bang nucleosynthesis and a formulation of field effects

A new upper limit on the amplitude of primordial magnetic field (PMF) is derived by a comparison between a calculation of elemental abundances in big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) model and the latest observational constraints on the abundances. Updated nuclear reaction rates are adopted in the calculation. Effects of PMF on the abundances are consistently taken into account in the numerical calculation with the precise formulation of changes in physical variables. We find that abundances of 3He and 6Li increase while that of 7Li decreases when the PMF amplitude increases, in the case of the baryon-to-photon ratio determined from the measurement of cosmic microwave background radiation. We derive a constraint on the present amplitude of PMF, i.e., B(0)<1.5 micro G [corresponding to the amplitude less than 2.0x10^{11} G at BBN temperature of T=10^9 K] based on the rigorous calculation.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, new observation of D/H ratio adopted, tighter constraint derived, Sec. IV modified, accepted for publication in PR

Can Galactic Cosmic Rays Account for Solar 6Li Without Overproducing Gamma Rays?

Cosmic-ray interactions with interstellar gas produces both 6Li, which accumulates in the interstellar medium (ISM), and $\pi^0$ mesons, which decay to gamma-rays which propagate throughout the cosmos. Local 6Li abundances and extragalactic gamma-rays thus have a common origin which tightly links them. We exploit this connection to use gamma-ray observations to infer the contribution to 6Li nucleosynthesis by standard Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) interactions with the ISM. Our calculation uses a carefully propagated cosmic-ray spectrum and accounts for 6Li production from both fusion reactions ($\alpha \alpha \to ^6Li$) as well as from spallation channels ({p,\alpha+CNO \to ^6Li). We find that although extreme assumptions yield a consistent picture, more realistic ones indicate that solar 6Li cannot be produced by standard GCRs alone without overproducing the hadronic gamma rays. Implications for the primordial 6Li production by decaying dark matter and cosmic rays from cosmological structure formation are discussed. Upcoming gamma-ray observations by GLAST will be crucial for determining the resolution of this problem.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure To be published in ApJ

Evolution of Beryllium and Boron in the Inhomogeneous Early Galaxy

A model of supernova-driven chemical evolution of the Galactic halo, recently proposed by Tsujimoto, Shigeyama, & Yoshii (1999, ApJL, 519, 64), is extended in order to investigate the evolution of light elements such as Be and B (BeB), which are produced mainly through spallative reactions with Galactic cosmic rays. In this model each supernova sweeps up the surrounding interstellar gas into a dense shell and directly enriches it with ejecta which consist of heavy elements produced in each Type II supernova with different progenitor masses. We propose a two-component source for GCRs such that both interstellar gas and fresh SN ejecta engulfed in the shell are accelerated by the shock wave. Our model results include: (1) a prediction of the intrinsic scatter in BeB and [Fe/H] abundances within the model, (2) a successful prediction of the observed linear trend between BeB and [Fe/H], (3) a proposal for using BeB as a cosmic clock, as an alternative to [Fe/H], and (4) a method for possibly constraining the BBN model from future observations of metal-poor stars.Comment: 3 color figures in 7 pages, accepted by ApJ Letter

Testing Spallation Processes With Beryllium and Boron

The nucleosynthesis of Be and B by spallation processes provides unique insight into the origin of cosmic rays. Namely, different spallation schemes predict sharply different trends for the growth of LiBeB abundances with respect to oxygen. ``Primary'' mechanisms predict BeB $\propto$ O, and are well motivated by the data if O/Fe is constant at low metallicity. In contrast, ``secondary'' mechanisms predict BeB $\propto$ O$^2$ and are consistent with the data if O/Fe increases towards low metallicity as some recent data suggest. Clearly, any primary mechanism, if operative, will dominate early in the history of the Galaxy. In this paper, we fit the BeB data to a two-component scheme which includes both primary and secondary trends. In this way, the data can be used to probe the period in which primary mechanisms are effective. We analyze the data using consistent stellar atmospheric parameters based on Balmer line data and the continuum infrared flux. Results depend sensitively on Pop II O abundances and, unfortunately, on the choice of stellar parameters. When using recent results which show O/Fe increasing toward lower metallicity, a two-component Be-O fits indicates that primary and secondary components contribute equally at [O/H]$_{eq}$ = -1.8 for Balmer line data; and [O/H]$_{eq}$ = -1.4 to -1.8 for IRFM. We apply these constraints to recent models for LiBeB origin. The Balmer line data does not show any evidence for primary production. On the other hand, the IRFM data does indicate a preference for a two-component model, such as a combination of standard GCR and metal-enriched particles accelerated in superbubbles. These conclusions rely on a detailed understanding of the abundance data including systematic effects which may alter the derived O-Fe and BeB-Fe relations.Comment: 40 pages including 11 ps figures. Written in AASTe