Speaker: Maurizio Salaris, Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Title: Lithium in old stars, mixing and big bang nucleosynthesis: old problems, new ideas, any solution?

Location: 1520-732

Abstract:
The abundance of Lithium in the atmospheres of Pop II dwarfs has become a serious problem, after the recent tight constraints on the cosmological baryon density.

Is there 'missing physics' (read element transport mechanisms) in stellar models of low-mass stars? Did some pre-Galactic chemical processing affect the Li-abundances we observe now ?

Do we need to add new physics to Big Bang nucleosynthesis calculations ?

A brief review of the available data will be presented, together with their interpretation according to stellar evolution modelling, new ideas based on measuring Li in low-luminosity red giants, and hopes that asteroseismology may one day come to the rescue.