Presentation
Just a few minutes after the birth of the Universe, the first light elements, including hydrogen, helium, and lithium, were formed. This process, known as Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), provides a framework for understanding the primordial abundances of light elements. However, important questions remain, most notably the cosmological lithium problem: the predicted abundance of lithium-7 is significantly higher than what is observed.
Addressing these questions requires input from cosmology, nuclear physics, and astronomical observations. In particular, understanding how nuclear reactions shaped the production of the first elements remains an important part of the puzzle, motivating both experimental measurements and theoretical investigations.
Azusa Inoue's previous work has investigated the role of nuclear reactions experimentally through measurements of nuclear reaction cross sections. To explore the role of nuclear reactions from a complementary computational perspective, she is developing PETAL, a tool that investigates how changes in nuclear reaction rates at different temperatures could affect the predicted primordial abundances. By searching for conditions that reproduce the observed abundances of deuterium, helium-3, and lithium-7, PETAL aims to identify which reactions and temperature regions have the greatest impact on the formation of the first elements.
In this presentation, Azusa will review our current understanding of BBN and its unresolved questions, present results from her previous experimental work, and introduce PETAL as a new computational approach to exploring the role of nuclear reactions in the early Universe.
Speaker
Azusa Inoue is a postdoctoral research fellow with the DSTrain MSCA Fellowship at the Department of Physics, UiO. She obtained her PhD from Osaka University in 2024, specializing in nuclear physics. Her research focuses on nuclear astrophysics, combining experimental and theoretical approaches to understand the origin and production of elements in the Universe.
Program
11:30 – Doors open and lunch is served
12:00 – "The Universe’s First Elements: Exploring Big Bang Nucleosynthesis with PETAL" by Azusa Inoue (Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physics)
This event is open for all students, PhD candidates, postdocs, and everyone else who is interested in the topic. No registration needed.
About the seminar series
Once a month, dScience will invite you to join us for lunch and professional talks at the Science Library. In addition to these, we will serve lunch in our lounge in Kristine Bonnevies house every Thursday. Due to limited space (40 people), this will be first come, first served. See how to find us here.
Our lounge can also be booked by PhDs and Postdocs on a regular basis, whether it is for a meeting or just to hang out – we have fresh coffee all day long!