Primordial lithium abundance in catalyzed big bang nucleosynthesis

There exists a well-known problem with the ^7Li+^7Be abundance predicted by standard big bang nucleosynthesis being larger than the value observed in population II stars. The catalysis of big bang nucleosynthesis by metastable, ₗ10^3 sec, charged particles X^- is capable of suppressing the primordial ^7Li+^7Be abundance and making it consistent with the observations. We show that to produce the correct abundance, this mechanism of suppression places a requirement on the initial abundance of X^- at temperatures of 410^8 K to be on the order of or larger than 0. 02 per baryon, which is within the natural range of abundances in models with metastable electroweak-scale particles. The suppression of ^7Li+^7Be is triggered by the formation of (^7BeX^-) compound nuclei, with fast depletion of their abundances by catalyzed proton reactions, and in some models by direct capture of X^- on ^7Be. The combination of ^7Li+^7Be and ^6Li constraints favors the window of lifetimes, 1000 sₗ2000 s.