Primordial Nucleosynthesis: Theory and Observations

Abstract

We review the Cosmology and Physics underlying Primordial Nucleosynthesis and survey current observational data in order to compare the predictions of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with the inferred primordial abundances. From this comparison we report on the status of the consistency of the standard hot big bang model, we constrain the universal density of baryons (nucleons), and we set limits to the numbers and/or effective interactions of hypothetical new "light" particles (equivalent massless neutrinos).Comment: 25 pages, latex, 4 ps figures, to be published in a special memorial volume of Physics Reports in honor of David Schram