Thanks to the accurate determination of the baryon density of the universe by the recent cosmic microwave background experiments, updated predictions of the standard model of Big Bang nucleosynthesis now yield the initial abundance of the primordial light elements with unprecedented precision. In the case of ^7^Li, the CMB+SBBN value is significantly higher than the generally reported abundances for Pop II stars along the so-called Spite plateau. In view of the crucial importance of this disagreement, which has cosmological, galactic and stellar implications, we decided to tackle the most critical issues of the problem by revisiting a large sample of literature Li data in halo stars that we assembled following some strict selection criteria on the quality of the original analyses. We dissect our sample in search of new constraints on Li depletion in halo stars. By means of the Hipparcos parallaxes, we derive the evolutionary status of each of our sample stars, and re-discuss our derived Li abundances.

Cone search capability for table J/A+A/442/961/table3 (The data sample and its main characteristics, as found in the literature)