Impact of the 7 Be(α, γ) 11 C Reaction on the Primordial Abundance of 7 Li

Abstract

We calculate the radiative capture cross section for 7 Be( α , γ ) 11 C and its reaction rate of relevance for the Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). The impact of this reaction on the primordial 7 Li abundance is revised including narrow and broad resonances in the pertinent energy region. Our calculations show that it is unlikely that very low energy resonances in 11 C of relevance for the BBN would emerge within a two-body potential model. Based on our results and a comparison with previous theoretical and experimental analyses, we conclude that the impact of this reaction on the so-called “cosmological lithium puzzle” is completely irrelevant.