Testing the Big Bang Through Lithium Measures
TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
Two University of Illinois astronomers have developed a new test that can be applied to the biblically predicted big bang creation model. The big bang model predicts that the cosmic creation event will produce a highly specified abundance of primordial lithium, a metal. The problem for observers has been locating lithium measures that are not significantly contaminated by stellar burning processes. To date, low-metallicity stars in the halo of the Milky Way Galaxy have been the best sources for primordial lithium measurements. Now, the U. of Illinois team has demonstrated that low-metallicity, high-velocity clouds of gas external to the Milky Way are not only easily accessible to modern instruments but also much less contaminated than low-metallicity halo stars. Finally, the team has identified specific gas clouds for which accurate lithium abundance measurements could be made easily. Thus, the potential for a powerful new test of the big bang creation model is at hand.
- Tijana Prodanovic and Brian D.Fields, “Probing Primordial and Pre-Galactic Lithium with High-Velocity Clouds,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 616 (2004): L115-L118.
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/ApJL/journal/issues/v616/n2/18915/brief/18915.abstract.html
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