Big Bang Nucleosynthesis: An Update

Abstract

WThe current status of big bang nucleosynthesis is reviewed with an emphasis on the comparison between the observational determination of the light element abundances of \D, \he3, \he4 and \li7 and the predictions from theory. In particular, we present new analyses for \he4 and \li7. Implications for physics beyond the standard model are also discussed. Limits on the effective number of neutrino flavors are also updated.

Comments: 21 pages, latex, 9 uuencoded, tarred, compressed, ps figures minor error in eq. 5 corrected