4He abundances: Optical versus radio recombination line measurements

Accurate measurements of the 4He/H abundance ratio are important in constraining Big Bang nucleosynthesis, models of stellar and Galactic evolution, and H ii region physics. We discuss observations of radio recombination lines using the Green Bank Telescope toward a small sample of H ii regions and planetary nebulae. We report 4He/H abundance ratio differences as high as 15–20% between optical and ratio data that are difficult to reconcile. Using the H ii regions S206 and M17 we determine 4He production in the Galaxy to be dY/dZ = 1.71 ± 0.86.