At the cosmological baryon density favored by deuterium and the cosmic microwave background, standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis predicts more lithium-7 than is directly inferred from the Spite plateau, typically by a factor of a few. Stellar depletion, atmosphere systematics and possible new microscopic physics must be distinguished before interpreting this discrepancy as a failure of the cosmological framework.
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The Cosmological Lithium Problem refers to an observed discrepancy between the predicted abundance of lithium-7 (^7Li) in the universe according to Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) models and the abundances measured in old, low-metallicity stars. Big Bang nucleosynthesis, which describes the formation of light elements in the first few minutes after the Big Bang, predicts specific primordial abundances of hydrogen, helium, deuterium, and lithium.