Developing new methods to investigate nuclear physics input to the cosmological Lithium problem

A significant challenge to nuclear astrophysics is the cosmological lithium problem, where models of Big Bang nucleosynthesis indicate abundances of Li two to four times larger than what is inferred via spectroscopic measurements of metal-poor stars. Recent experimental techniques developed for nuclear reaction studies at energies near the fusion barrier, if extended to reactions of astrophysical interest, may help understand nuclear reactions that can affect the production of Li during the Big Bang.