The spite plateau: A puzzle and a challenge for the stellar physicist

Abstract

In order to use the lithium abundance of the Spite plateau to constrain the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, one has to determine how much of the original lithium has been destroyed by the various physical processes that are known to operate in stellar radiation zones. These are briefly reviewed, with emphasis on the mixing occurring in tachoclines and on that generated indirectly by the transport of angular momentum through internal gravity waves. © 2005 International Astronomical Union.