Non-detection of $^6$Li in Spite plateau stars with ESPRESSO

TL;DR

This study uses high-quality ESPRESSO spectra and advanced modeling to search for $^6$Li in Spite plateau stars, finding no evidence of $^6$Li and thus addressing the second cosmological lithium problem.

Contribution

First application of 3D NLTE radiative transfer with MCMC analysis to high-resolution spectra for $^6$Li detection in metal-poor stars, setting new upper limits.

Findings

No $^6$Li detected in the three studied stars.

Established upper limits for $^6$Li/$^7$Li ratios.

Results suggest no second cosmological lithium problem.

Abstract

The detection of $^6$Li in Spite plateau stars contradicts the standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis prediction, known as the second cosmological lithium problem. We measure the isotopic ratio $^6$Li/$^7$Li in three Spite plateau stars: HD 84937, HD 140283, and LP 815-43. We use 3D NLTE radiative transfer and for the first time apply this to high resolution, high-S/N data from the ultra-stable VLT/ESPRESSO spectrograph. These are amongst the best spectra ever taken of any metal-poor stars. As the measurement of $^6$Li/$^7$Li is degenerate with other physical stellar parameters, we employ Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to find the probability distributions of measured parameters. As a test of systematics we also use three different fitting methods. We do not detect $^6$Li in any of the three stars, and find consistent results between our different methods. We estimate 2$\sigma$ upper limits to $^6$Li/$^7$Li of 0.7%, 0.6%, and 1.7% respectively for HD 84937, HD 140283, and LP 815-43. Our results indicate that there is no second cosmological lithium problem, as there is no evidence of $^6$Li in Spite Plateau stars.