Lithium destruction in metal-poor halo stars and the cosmological lithium problem

The cosmological lithium problem refers to a shortcoming in the otherwise-successful theory of Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN); specifically, while BBN accurately predicts the primordial abundance of light elements such as H and He, the theory predicts there to be about three times more primordial $^7$Li than is actually observed. A possible explanation of this deficit is an insufficient understanding of stellar convective mechanisms in which $^7$Li could be destroyed via thermonuclear processes. We are specifically exploring convective overshoot and microturbulence in simulations of metal-poor halo stars as possible means of reproducing the predicted uniform factor of 3 reduction in primordial $^7$Li abundance.