Big-bang nucleosynthesis - observational aspects

Extrapolation of observational data on the abundances of D, 3He, 4He and 7Li in various astrophysical objects to derive their primordial values leads to results in good accordance with calculations from Standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis theory over 9 orders of magnitude in abundance and has led to the following predictions: there are not more than 3 light neutrino species or other particles contributing relativistic degrees of freedom at temperatures of a few MeV; the neutron half-life is less than 10.4 min; and baryonic dark matter exists, but not in sufficient quantities to close the universe. (The first two of these predictions have been confirmed by laboratory experiments). Searches for a primordial component in the abundance of any other element heavier than hydrogen - such as might have resulted from inhomogeneities due to phase transitions in the early universe, notably the quark-hadron transition - have so far proved completely negative. The primordial helium abundance is found from observations of extragalactic ionized hydrogen clouds to be close to 0.230 by mass, a little lower than predicted, but the difference does not exceed likely errors. (orig.)