Big-bang Nucleogenesis

Because there are no stable nuclides with H = 5 or 8, the claim was later toned down, for lack of time, to the big-bang production of only the six light nuclei as above. The synthesis of heavier nuclides is postponed to happen in stars at a more leisurely rate. We note that in a black hole, where the radial coordinate turns into a time coordinate there is more than sufficient time to establish the proposed equilibrium. 

The fact that the light nuclides, especially H and He, are more abundant by orders of magnitude, compared to all heavier nuclides, is interpreted to distinguish two fundamentally different modes of synthesis. The big bang is postulated responsible for primordial synthesis of the light nuclei and stellar nucleosynthesis (Burbidge et al., 1957) to produce all the heavy nuclides. 

The stellar mode is based on sound principles and, no doubt, contributes to the overall spread of observed abundances. However, as indicated before, it fails to account for the periodic trends, which favour a comprehensive equilibrium process, that includes the light nuclides. 

Elaborate calculations (Krane, 1988) of abundances, based on primordial nucleogenesis, considered one of the three conclusive proofs of the big-bang scenario, are not as telling as claimed and have a healthy injection of speculation. Jay Narlikar (1992) comments on the situation as follows  

A closed interval terminating at f = 0 with the conditions specified here and with no further backward steps allowed is [... ] entirely alien to the [... ] spirit of enquiry.  

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To my mind this rationalization of the observation, and many others like it, is an admission that the big-bang nucleogenesis model is refuted by the observation of GRB 090423, and is now replaced by the assumption that heavy elements occurred during the inflation epoch by mechanisms that differ from those operating in ordinary stars. 

Aguirre AN (1999) Cold big bang nucleogenesis. Astrophys J 521 17-29 (2000) The cosmic background radiation in a cold big bang. Astrophys J 533 1-18... 

Hot big-bang theory of expanding universe includes an (incorrect) theory of nucleogenesis... 

The final conclusion is clear Uniform correlation between nuclear stability and abundance cannot result from nucleogenesis in a large number of unrelated processes under a variety of reaction conditions, as required by the big-bang mechanism. The suggested alternative of nuclear synthesis by an equilibrium process of systematic a-addition points at a completely different cosmological model and to the direction which this enquiry must follow, while remaining consistent with physical theory. 

The near-equality of cosmic and solar abundancies of the chemical elements points at either a single synthesis event, starting from elementary matter, or a common mechanism of nucleogenesis, wherever it happens. The first possibility is the one originally preferred in big-bang cosmology, but later abandoned as there was considered not to be enough time available for this process in the early universe. 

Redshift, nucleogenesis and microwave background constitute the observational basis of big bang theory. By our analysis they amount to nothing. Still by definition no argument prevails against dogmatic truth. 

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