Beginning during the radiation-dominated era when the universe was about one second old, the time required for this process to run its course can be inferred from the relative abundances of helium and hydrogen.
An experimental measurement of one end-product of this process can be obtained by examining the metal-deficient objects called blue compact dwarf galaxies, while Spite et al. studied another result of this process by examining the surfaces of population II stars. Since in order for this process to occur the energy contributed by relativistic species must be constrained, this process functions as a cosmological limit on the number of neutrino species. The first calculations describing this process were published in 1948 in the famous "alpha-beta-gamma" paper by Alpher and Gamow. It provides a constraint on the baryonic matter density, implying most matter density is in dark matter. Beginning during the radiation-dominated era when the universe was about one second old, the time required for this process to run its course can be inferred from the relative abundances of helium and hydrogen. For 10 points, identify this process in the early universe which resulted in the formation of the light elements.
An experimental measurement of one end-product of this process can be obtained by examining the metal-deficient objects called blue compact dwarf galaxies, while Spite et al. studied another result of this process by examining the surfaces of population II stars.
Big Bang (or primordial) nucleosynthesis [accept BBN]