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Article Contents

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION

1.THE EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE

1.1.Redshift

1.2.Dynamics

1.2.1.Counting Relativistic Degrees of Freedom

1.2.2."Extra" Relativistic Energy

2.BIG BANG NUCLEOSYNTHESIS AND THE PRIMORDIAL ABUNDANCES

2.1.An Early Universe Chronology

2.1.1.Neutron - Proton Interconversion

2.1.2.Building The Elements

2.2.The SBBN-Predicted Abundances

2.3.Variations On A Theme: Non-Standard BBN

3.OBSERVATIONAL STATUS OF THE RELIC ABUNDANCES

3.1.Deuterium

3.2.Helium-3

3.3.Helium-4

3.4.Lithium-7

4.CONFRONTATION OF THEORETICAL PREDICTIONS WITH OBSERVATIONAL DATA

4.1.Deuterium - The Baryometer Of Choice

4.2.SBBN Baryon Density - The Baryon Density At 20 Minutes

4.3.CMB Baryon Density - The Baryon Density At A Few Hundred Thousand Years

4.4.The Baryon Density At 10 Gyr

4.5.Baryon Density Concordance

4.6.Testing The Consistency Of SBBN

5.BBN IN NON-STANDARD MODELS

5.1.Degenerate BBN

6.SUMMARY

REFERENCES