Nucleosynthesis
Encyclopedia
Nucleosynthesis is the process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleon
s (protons and neutrons). It is thought that the primordial nucleons themselves were formed from the quark–gluon plasma from the Big Bang
as it cooled below two trillion degrees. A few minutes afterward, starting with only proton
s and neutron
s, nuclei up to lithium
and beryllium
(both with mass number 7) were formed, but only in relatively small amounts. Some boron may have been formed at this time, but the process stopped before significant carbon
could be formed, because this element requires a far higher product of helium density and time than were present in the short nucleosynthesis period of the Big Bang. The Big Bang fusion process essentially shut down due to drops in temperature and density as the universe continued to expand. This first process of primordial nucleosynthesis was the first type of nucleogenesis to occur in the universe.
The subsequent nucleosynthesis of the heavier elements required heavy star
s and supernova
explosions. This theoretically happened as hydrogen and helium from the Big Bang condensed into the first stars 500 million years after the Big Bang. The primordial elements still present on Earth that were once created in stellar nucleosynthesis range in atomic number
s from 6 (carbon
) to 94 (plutonium
). Synthesis of these heavier elements occurs either by nuclear fusion
(including both rapid and slow multiple neutron capture) or by nuclear fission
, sometimes followed by beta decay
.
By contrast, many stellar processes actually tend to destroy deuterium
and isotopes of beryllium, lithium, and boron which have collected in stars after their primordial formation in the Big Bang. This effective destruction happens via the transmutation of these elements to higher atomic species. Quantities of these lighter elements in the present universe are therefore thought to have been formed mainly through billions of years of cosmic ray
(mostly high-energy proton) mediated breakup of heavier elements residing in interstellar gas and dust.
In addition to the major processes of priordial nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang, stellar processes, and cosmic-ray nucleosynthesis in space, many minor natural processes continue to produce small amounts of new elements on Earth. These nuclides are naturally produced on a continuing basis via the decay of long-lived primordial radionuclides (via radiogenesis), from natural nuclear reaction
s in cosmic ray bombardment of elements on Earth (cosmogenic nuclide
s), and from other natural nuclear reaction
s powered by particles from radioactive decay
, (producing nucleogenic
nuclides).
Arthur Stanley Eddington
first suggested in 1920 that stars obtain their energy by fusing hydrogen to helium, but this idea was not generally accepted because it lacked nuclear mechanisms. In the years immediately before World War II Hans Bethe
first provided those nuclear mechanisms by which hydrogen is fused into helium. However, neither of these early works on stellar power addressed the origin of the elements heavier than helium.
Fred Hoyle
's original work on nucleosynthesis of heavier elements in stars occurred just after World War II. This work attributed production of all heavier elements formed in stars during the nuclear evolution of their compositions, starting from hydrogen. Hoyle proposed that hydrogen is continuously created in the universe from vacuum and energy, without need for universal beginning.
Hoyle's work explained how the abundances of the elements increased with time as the galaxy aged. Subsequently, Hoyle's picture was expanded during the 1960s by creative contributions by William A. Fowler, Alastair G. W. Cameron, and Donald D. Clayton, and then by many others. The creative 1957 review paper by E. M. Burbidge
, G. R. Burbidge
, Fowler and Hoyle (see Ref. list) is a well-known summary of the state of the field in 1957. That paper defined new processes for changing one heavy nucleus into others within individual stars, processes that could be documented by astronomers.
The Big Bang itself had been proposed in 1931, long before this period, by Georges Lemaître
, a Belgian physicist and Roman Catholic priest, who suggested that the evident expansion of the Universe in forward time required that the Universe contracted backwards in time, and would continue to do so until it could contract no further, bringing all the mass of the Universe into a single point, a "primeval atom", at a point in time before which time and space did not exist. Hoyle later gave Lemaître's model the derisive term of Big Bang, not realizing that Lemaître's model was needed to explain the existence of deuterium and nuclides between helium and carbon, as well as the fundamentally high amount of helium present not only in stars, but also in interstellar gas. As it happened, both Lemaître and Hoyle's models of nucleosynthesis would be needed to explain elemental abundance in the universe.
processes which occur inside stars are known as hydrogen burning (via the proton-proton chain or the CNO cycle
), helium burning
, carbon burning
, neon burning
, oxygen burning
and silicon burning
. These processes are able to create elements up to iron and nickel, the region of the isotopes having the highest binding energy
per nucleon. Heavier elements can be assembled within stars by a neutron capture process known as the s process
or in explosive environments, such as supernova
e, by a number of processes. Some of the more important of these include the r process
, which involves rapid neutron captures, the rp process
, which involves rapid proton captures, and the p process
(sometimes known as the gamma process), which involves photodisintegration
of existing nuclei.
occurred within the first three minutes of the beginning of the universe and is responsible for much of the abundance of 1H (protium), 2H (D, deuterium
), 3He (helium-3
), and 4He (helium-4
), in the universe. Although 4He continues to be produced by other mechanisms (such as stellar fusion and alpha decay) and trace amounts of 1H continue to be produced by spallation
and certain types of radioactive decay (proton emission
and neutron emission
), most of the mass of these isotopes in the universe, and all but the insignificant traces of the 3He and deuterium in the universe produced by rare processes such as cluster decay
, are thought to have been produced in the Big Bang
. The nuclei of these elements, along with some 7Li, and 7Be are considered to have been formed when the universe was between 100 and 300 seconds old, after the primordial quark
-gluon
plasma froze out to form proton
s and neutron
s. Because of the very short period in which Big Bang nucleosynthesis occurred before being stopped by expansion and cooling (about 20 minutes after the Big Bang), no elements heavier than beryllium
(or possibly boron
) could be formed. (Elements formed during this time were in the plasma state, and did not cool to the state of neutral atoms until much later).
. It is responsible for the generation of elements from carbon
to iron
by nuclear fusion
processes. Stars are the nuclear furnaces in which H and He are fused into heavier nuclei, a process which occurs by proton-proton chain in stars cooler than the Sun, and by the CNO cycle
in stars more massive than the Sun.
Of particular importance is carbon, because its formation from He is a bottleneck in the entire process. Carbon is produced by the triple-alpha process
in all stars. Carbon is also the main element used in the production of free neutrons within the stars, giving rise to the s process
which involves the slow absorption of neutrons to produce elements heavier than iron and nickel (57Fe and 62Ni). Carbon and other elements formed by this process are also fundamental to life
in the form that we know it.
The products of stellar nucleosynthesis are generally distributed into the universe through mass loss episodes and stellar winds in stars which are of low mass, as in the planetary nebula
e phase of evolution, as well as through explosive events resulting in supernova
e in the case of massive stars.
The first direct proof that nucleosynthesis occurs in stars was the detection of technetium
in the atmosphere of a red giant
in the early 1950s, prototypical for the class of Tc-rich stars
. Because technetium is radioactive, with half life much less than the age of the star, its abundance must reflect its creation within that star during its lifetime. Less dramatic, but equally convincing evidence is of large overabundances of specific stable elements in a stellar atmosphere. A historically important case was observation of barium abundances some 20-50 times greater than in unevolved stars, which is evidence of the operation of the s process
within that star. Many modern proofs appear in the isotopic composition of stardust, solid grains that condensed from the gases of individual stars and which have been extracted from meteorites. Stardust is one component of cosmic dust
. The measured isotopic compositions demonstrate many aspects of nucleosynthesis within the stars from which the stardust grains condensed.
, and produces the elements heavier than iron by an intense burst of nuclear reactions that typically last mere seconds during the explosion of the supernova core. In explosive environments of supernovae, the elements between silicon and nickel are synthesized by fast fusion. Also in supernova
e further nucleosynthesis processes can occur, such as the r process
, in which the most neutron-rich isotopes of elements heavier than nickel are produced by rapid absorption of free neutron
s released during the explosions. It is responsible for our natural cohort of radioactive elements, such as uranium and thorium, as well as the most neutron-rich isotopes of each heavy element.
The rp process
involves the rapid absorption of free proton
s as well as neutrons, but its role is less certain.
Explosive nucleosynthesis occurs too rapidly for radioactive decay to decrease the number of neutrons, so that many abundant isotopes having equal even numbers of protons and neutrons are synthesized by the alpha process to produce nuclides which consist of whole numbers of helium nuclei, up to 16 (representing 64Ge). Such nuclides are stable up to 40Ca (made of 10 helium nuclei), but heavier nuclei with equal numbers of protons and neutrons are radioactive. However, the alpha process continues to influence production of isobar
s of these nuclides, including at least the radioactive nuclides 44Ti, 48Cr, 52Fe, 56Ni, 60Zn, and 64Ge, most of which (save 44Ti and 60Zn) are created in such abundance as to decay after the explosion to create the most abundant stable isotope of the corresponding element at each atomic weight. Thus, the corresponding most common (abundant) isotopes of elements produced in this way are 48Ti, 52Cr, 56Fe, and 64Zn. Many such decays are accompanied by emission of gamma-ray lines capable of identifying the isotope that has just been created in the explosion.
The most convincing proof of explosive nucleosynthesis in supernovae occurred in 1987 when gamma-ray lines were detected emerging from supernova 1987A. Gamma ray lines identifying 56Co and 57Co, whose radioactive halflives limit their age to about a year, proved that 56Fe and 57Fe were created by radioactive parents. This nuclear astronomy was predicted in 1969 as a way to confirm explosive nucleosynthesis of the elements, and that prediction played an important role in the planning for NASA's successful Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
.
Other proofs of explosive nucleosynthesis are found within the stardust grains that condensed within the interiors of supernovae as they expanded and cooled. Stardust grains are one component of cosmic dust
. In particular, radioactive 44Ti was measured to be very abundant within supernova stardust grains at the time they condensed during the supernova expansion, confirming a 1975 prediction for identifying supernova stardust. Other unusual isotopic ratios within these grains reveal many specific aspects of explosive nucleosynthesis.
produces some of the lightest elements present in the universe (though not significant deuterium
). Most notably spallation is believed to be responsible for the generation of almost all of 3He and the elements lithium
, beryllium
and boron
(some and are thought to have been produced in the Big Bang). The spallation process results from the impact of cosmic rays (mostly fast protons) against the interstellar medium
. These impacts fragment carbon, nitrogen and oxygen nuclei present in the cosmic rays, and also these elements being struck by protons in cosmic rays. The process results in these light elements (Be, B, and Li) being present in cosmic rays at much higher proportion than they are represented in solar atmospheres, whereas H and He nuclei are represented in cosmic rays with approximately primordial abundance with regard to each other.
Beryllium and boron are not significantly produced in stellar fusion processes, because the instability of any 8Be formed from two 4He nuclei prevents simple 2-particle reaction building-up of these elements.
abundances and comparing with observed results. Isotope abundances are typically calculated by calculating the transition rates between isotopes in a network. Often these calculations can be simplified as a few key reactions control the rate of other reactions.
). However, some nuclides are also by a number of natural means that have continued after primordial production of elements, discussed above, ceased. Often these act to produce new elements in ways that can be used to date rocks or check on the timing or source of geological processes. Although these processes are usually not major sources of nuclides, in the cases of the short-lived naturally-occurring nuclides that exhibit half-lives too short to be primordial (see list of nuclides), these processes are the entire source of the existing natural supply of the nuclide.
These mechanisms include:
Nucleon
In physics, a nucleon is a collective name for two particles: the neutron and the proton. These are the two constituents of the atomic nucleus. Until the 1960s, the nucleons were thought to be elementary particles...
s (protons and neutrons). It is thought that the primordial nucleons themselves were formed from the quark–gluon plasma from the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
as it cooled below two trillion degrees. A few minutes afterward, starting with only proton
Proton
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
s and neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s, nuclei up to lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
and beryllium
Beryllium
Beryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
(both with mass number 7) were formed, but only in relatively small amounts. Some boron may have been formed at this time, but the process stopped before significant carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
could be formed, because this element requires a far higher product of helium density and time than were present in the short nucleosynthesis period of the Big Bang. The Big Bang fusion process essentially shut down due to drops in temperature and density as the universe continued to expand. This first process of primordial nucleosynthesis was the first type of nucleogenesis to occur in the universe.
The subsequent nucleosynthesis of the heavier elements required heavy star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s and supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
explosions. This theoretically happened as hydrogen and helium from the Big Bang condensed into the first stars 500 million years after the Big Bang. The primordial elements still present on Earth that were once created in stellar nucleosynthesis range in atomic number
Atomic number
In chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...
s from 6 (carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
) to 94 (plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
). Synthesis of these heavier elements occurs either by nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
(including both rapid and slow multiple neutron capture) or by nuclear fission
Nuclear fission
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts , often producing free neutrons and photons , and releasing a tremendous amount of energy...
, sometimes followed by beta decay
Beta decay
In nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted from an atom. There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus. In the case of beta decay that produces an electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a...
.
By contrast, many stellar processes actually tend to destroy deuterium
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
and isotopes of beryllium, lithium, and boron which have collected in stars after their primordial formation in the Big Bang. This effective destruction happens via the transmutation of these elements to higher atomic species. Quantities of these lighter elements in the present universe are therefore thought to have been formed mainly through billions of years of cosmic ray
Cosmic ray
Cosmic rays are energetic charged subatomic particles, originating from outer space. They may produce secondary particles that penetrate the Earth's atmosphere and surface. The term ray is historical as cosmic rays were thought to be electromagnetic radiation...
(mostly high-energy proton) mediated breakup of heavier elements residing in interstellar gas and dust.
In addition to the major processes of priordial nucleosynthesis in the Big Bang, stellar processes, and cosmic-ray nucleosynthesis in space, many minor natural processes continue to produce small amounts of new elements on Earth. These nuclides are naturally produced on a continuing basis via the decay of long-lived primordial radionuclides (via radiogenesis), from natural nuclear reaction
Nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, a nuclear reaction is semantically considered to be the process in which two nuclei, or else a nucleus of an atom and a subatomic particle from outside the atom, collide to produce products different from the initial particles...
s in cosmic ray bombardment of elements on Earth (cosmogenic nuclide
Cosmogenic nuclide
See also Environmental radioactivity#NaturalCosmogenic nuclides are rare isotopes created when a high-energy cosmic ray interacts with the nucleus of an in situ solar system atom, causing cosmic ray spallation...
s), and from other natural nuclear reaction
Nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, a nuclear reaction is semantically considered to be the process in which two nuclei, or else a nucleus of an atom and a subatomic particle from outside the atom, collide to produce products different from the initial particles...
s powered by particles from radioactive decay
Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
, (producing nucleogenic
Nucleogenic
A nucleogenic isotope or nuclide, is one that is produced by a natural terrestrial nuclear reaction, other than a reaction beginning with cosmic rays . The nuclear reaction that produces nucleogenic nuclides is usually interaction with an alpha particle or the capture of fission or thermal neutron...
nuclides).
History
The first ideas on nucleosynthesis were simply that the chemical elements were created at the beginnings of the universe, but no successful physical scenario for this could be identified. Hydrogen and helium were clearly far more abundant than any of the other elements (all the rest of which constituted less than 2% of the mass of the solar system, and presumably other star systems as well). At the same time it was clear that carbon was the next most common element, and also that there was a general trend toward abundance of light elements, especially those composed of whole numbers of helium-4 nuclei.Arthur Stanley Eddington
Arthur Stanley Eddington
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, OM, FRS was a British astrophysicist of the early 20th century. He was also a philosopher of science and a popularizer of science...
first suggested in 1920 that stars obtain their energy by fusing hydrogen to helium, but this idea was not generally accepted because it lacked nuclear mechanisms. In the years immediately before World War II Hans Bethe
Hans Bethe
Hans Albrecht Bethe was a German-American nuclear physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. A versatile theoretical physicist, Bethe also made important contributions to quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, solid-state physics and...
first provided those nuclear mechanisms by which hydrogen is fused into helium. However, neither of these early works on stellar power addressed the origin of the elements heavier than helium.
Fred Hoyle
Fred Hoyle
Sir Fred Hoyle FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician noted primarily for his contribution to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and his often controversial stance on other cosmological and scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory, a term originally...
's original work on nucleosynthesis of heavier elements in stars occurred just after World War II. This work attributed production of all heavier elements formed in stars during the nuclear evolution of their compositions, starting from hydrogen. Hoyle proposed that hydrogen is continuously created in the universe from vacuum and energy, without need for universal beginning.
Hoyle's work explained how the abundances of the elements increased with time as the galaxy aged. Subsequently, Hoyle's picture was expanded during the 1960s by creative contributions by William A. Fowler, Alastair G. W. Cameron, and Donald D. Clayton, and then by many others. The creative 1957 review paper by E. M. Burbidge
Margaret Burbidge
Eleanor Margaret Burbidge, née Peachey, FRS is a British-born American astrophysicist, noted for original research and holding many administrative posts, including director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory....
, G. R. Burbidge
Geoffrey Burbidge
Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge FRS was an English astronomy professor, most recently at the University of California, San Diego. He was married to astrophysicist Dr. Margaret Burbidge.-Education:...
, Fowler and Hoyle (see Ref. list) is a well-known summary of the state of the field in 1957. That paper defined new processes for changing one heavy nucleus into others within individual stars, processes that could be documented by astronomers.
The Big Bang itself had been proposed in 1931, long before this period, by Georges Lemaître
Georges Lemaître
Monsignor Georges Henri Joseph Édouard Lemaître was a Belgian priest, astronomer and professor of physics at the Catholic University of Louvain. He was the first person to propose the theory of the expansion of the Universe, widely misattributed to Edwin Hubble...
, a Belgian physicist and Roman Catholic priest, who suggested that the evident expansion of the Universe in forward time required that the Universe contracted backwards in time, and would continue to do so until it could contract no further, bringing all the mass of the Universe into a single point, a "primeval atom", at a point in time before which time and space did not exist. Hoyle later gave Lemaître's model the derisive term of Big Bang, not realizing that Lemaître's model was needed to explain the existence of deuterium and nuclides between helium and carbon, as well as the fundamentally high amount of helium present not only in stars, but also in interstellar gas. As it happened, both Lemaître and Hoyle's models of nucleosynthesis would be needed to explain elemental abundance in the universe.
Processes
In modern theory, there are a number of astrophysical processes which are believed to be responsible for nucleosynthesis in the universe. The majority of these occur within the hot matter inside stars. The successive nuclear fusionNuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
processes which occur inside stars are known as hydrogen burning (via the proton-proton chain or the CNO cycle
CNO cycle
The CNO cycle is one of two sets of fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium, the other being the proton–proton chain. Unlike the proton–proton chain reaction, the CNO cycle is a catalytic cycle. Theoretical models show that the CNO cycle is the dominant source of energy in stars...
), helium burning
Helium fusion
Helium fusion is a kind of nuclear fusion, with the nuclei involved being helium.The fusion of helium-4 nuclei is known as the triple-alpha process, because fusion of just two helium nuclei only produces beryllium-8, which is unstable and breaks back down to two helium nuclei with a half-life of...
, carbon burning
Carbon burning process
The carbon-burning process or carbon fusion is a set of nuclear fusion reactions that take place in massive stars that have used up the lighter elements in their cores...
, neon burning
Neon burning process
The neon-burning process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions that take place in massive stars . Neon burning requires high temperatures and densities ....
, oxygen burning
Oxygen burning process
The oxygen-burning process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions that take place in massive stars that have used up the lighter elements in their cores. It occurs at temperatures around 1.5×109 K / 130 keV and densities of 1010 kg/m3....
and silicon burning
Silicon burning process
In astrophysics, silicon burning is a very brief sequence of nuclear fusion reactions that occur in massive stars with a minimum of about 8–11 solar masses. Silicon burning is the final stage of fusion for massive stars that have run out of the fuels that power them for their long lives in the main...
. These processes are able to create elements up to iron and nickel, the region of the isotopes having the highest binding energy
Binding energy
Binding energy is the mechanical energy required to disassemble a whole into separate parts. A bound system typically has a lower potential energy than its constituent parts; this is what keeps the system together—often this means that energy is released upon the creation of a bound state...
per nucleon. Heavier elements can be assembled within stars by a neutron capture process known as the s process
S-process
The S-process or slow-neutron-capture-process is a nucleosynthesis process that occurs at relatively low neutron density and intermediate temperature conditions in stars. Under these conditions the rate of neutron capture by atomic nuclei is slow relative to the rate of radioactive beta-minus decay...
or in explosive environments, such as supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
e, by a number of processes. Some of the more important of these include the r process
R-process
The r-process is a nucleosynthesis process, likely occurring in core-collapse supernovae responsible for the creation of approximately half of the neutron-rich atomic nuclei that are heavier than iron. The process entails a succession of rapid neutron captures on seed nuclei, typically Ni-56,...
, which involves rapid neutron captures, the rp process
Rp-process
The rp-process consists of consecutive proton captures onto seed nuclei to produce heavier elements. It is a nucleosynthesis process and, along with the s process and the r process, may be responsible for the generation of many of the heavy elements present in the universe...
, which involves rapid proton captures, and the p process
P-process
The term p-process is used in two ways in the scientific literature concerning the astrophysical origin of the elements . Originally it referred to a proton capture process which is the source of certain, naturally occurring, proton-rich isotopes of the elements from selenium to mercury...
(sometimes known as the gamma process), which involves photodisintegration
Photodisintegration
Photodisintegration is a physical process in which an extremely high energy gamma ray interacts with an atomic nucleus and causes it to enter an excited state, which immediately decays by emitting a subatomic particle. A single proton or neutron is effectively knocked out of the nucleus by the...
of existing nuclei.
Big Bang nucleosynthesis
Big Bang nucleosynthesisBig Bang nucleosynthesis
In physical cosmology, Big Bang nucleosynthesis refers to the production of nuclei other than those of H-1 during the early phases of the universe...
occurred within the first three minutes of the beginning of the universe and is responsible for much of the abundance of 1H (protium), 2H (D, deuterium
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
), 3He (helium-3
Helium-3
Helium-3 is a light, non-radioactive isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. It is rare on Earth, and is sought for use in nuclear fusion research...
), and 4He (helium-4
Helium-4
Helium-4 is a non-radioactive isotope of helium. It is by far the most abundant of the two naturally occurring isotopes of helium, making up about 99.99986% of the helium on earth. Its nucleus is the same as an alpha particle, consisting of two protons and two neutrons. Alpha decay of heavy...
), in the universe. Although 4He continues to be produced by other mechanisms (such as stellar fusion and alpha decay) and trace amounts of 1H continue to be produced by spallation
Spallation
In general, spallation is a process in which fragments of material are ejected from a body due to impact or stress. In the context of impact mechanics it describes ejection or vaporization of material from a target during impact by a projectile...
and certain types of radioactive decay (proton emission
Proton emission
Proton emission is a type of radioactive decay in which a proton is ejected from a nucleus. Proton emission can occur from high-lying excited states in a nucleus following a beta decay, in which case the process is known as beta-delayed proton emission, or can occur from the ground state of very...
and neutron emission
Neutron emission
Neutron emission is a type of radioactive decay of atoms containing excess neutrons, in which a neutron is simply ejected from the nucleus. Two examples of isotopes which emit neutrons are helium-5 and beryllium-13...
), most of the mass of these isotopes in the universe, and all but the insignificant traces of the 3He and deuterium in the universe produced by rare processes such as cluster decay
Cluster decay
Cluster decay is a type of nuclear decay in which a parent atomic nucleus with A nucleons and Z protons emits a cluster of Ne neutrons and Ze protons heavier than an alpha particle but lighter than a typical binary fission fragment Cluster decay (also named heavy particle radioactivity or heavy...
, are thought to have been produced in the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
. The nuclei of these elements, along with some 7Li, and 7Be are considered to have been formed when the universe was between 100 and 300 seconds old, after the primordial quark
Quark
A quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly...
-gluon
Gluon
Gluons are elementary particles which act as the exchange particles for the color force between quarks, analogous to the exchange of photons in the electromagnetic force between two charged particles....
plasma froze out to form proton
Proton
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
s and neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s. Because of the very short period in which Big Bang nucleosynthesis occurred before being stopped by expansion and cooling (about 20 minutes after the Big Bang), no elements heavier than beryllium
Beryllium
Beryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
(or possibly boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
) could be formed. (Elements formed during this time were in the plasma state, and did not cool to the state of neutral atoms until much later).
Stellar nucleosynthesis
Stellar nucleosynthesis occurs in stars during the process of stellar evolutionStellar evolution
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star undergoes a sequence of radical changes during its lifetime. Depending on the mass of the star, this lifetime ranges from only a few million years to trillions of years .Stellar evolution is not studied by observing the life of a single...
. It is responsible for the generation of elements from carbon
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...
to iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
by nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
processes. Stars are the nuclear furnaces in which H and He are fused into heavier nuclei, a process which occurs by proton-proton chain in stars cooler than the Sun, and by the CNO cycle
CNO cycle
The CNO cycle is one of two sets of fusion reactions by which stars convert hydrogen to helium, the other being the proton–proton chain. Unlike the proton–proton chain reaction, the CNO cycle is a catalytic cycle. Theoretical models show that the CNO cycle is the dominant source of energy in stars...
in stars more massive than the Sun.
Of particular importance is carbon, because its formation from He is a bottleneck in the entire process. Carbon is produced by the triple-alpha process
Triple-alpha process
The triple alpha process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions by which three helium-4 nuclei are transformed into carbon.Older stars start to accumulate helium produced by the proton–proton chain reaction and the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen cycle in their cores...
in all stars. Carbon is also the main element used in the production of free neutrons within the stars, giving rise to the s process
S-process
The S-process or slow-neutron-capture-process is a nucleosynthesis process that occurs at relatively low neutron density and intermediate temperature conditions in stars. Under these conditions the rate of neutron capture by atomic nuclei is slow relative to the rate of radioactive beta-minus decay...
which involves the slow absorption of neutrons to produce elements heavier than iron and nickel (57Fe and 62Ni). Carbon and other elements formed by this process are also fundamental to life
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
in the form that we know it.
The products of stellar nucleosynthesis are generally distributed into the universe through mass loss episodes and stellar winds in stars which are of low mass, as in the planetary nebula
Planetary nebula
A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of an expanding glowing shell of ionized gas ejected during the asymptotic giant branch phase of certain types of stars late in their life...
e phase of evolution, as well as through explosive events resulting in supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
e in the case of massive stars.
The first direct proof that nucleosynthesis occurs in stars was the detection of technetium
Technetium
Technetium is the chemical element with atomic number 43 and symbol Tc. It is the lowest atomic number element without any stable isotopes; every form of it is radioactive. Nearly all technetium is produced synthetically and only minute amounts are found in nature...
in the atmosphere of a red giant
Red giant
A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius immense and the surface temperature low, somewhere from 5,000 K and lower...
in the early 1950s, prototypical for the class of Tc-rich stars
Technetium star
A technetium star, or more properly a Tc-rich star, is a star whose stellar spectrum contains absorption lines of the light radioactive metal technetium. The most stable isotope of technetium is 98Tc with a half-life of 4.2 million years, which is too short a time to allow the metal to be material...
. Because technetium is radioactive, with half life much less than the age of the star, its abundance must reflect its creation within that star during its lifetime. Less dramatic, but equally convincing evidence is of large overabundances of specific stable elements in a stellar atmosphere. A historically important case was observation of barium abundances some 20-50 times greater than in unevolved stars, which is evidence of the operation of the s process
S-process
The S-process or slow-neutron-capture-process is a nucleosynthesis process that occurs at relatively low neutron density and intermediate temperature conditions in stars. Under these conditions the rate of neutron capture by atomic nuclei is slow relative to the rate of radioactive beta-minus decay...
within that star. Many modern proofs appear in the isotopic composition of stardust, solid grains that condensed from the gases of individual stars and which have been extracted from meteorites. Stardust is one component of cosmic dust
Cosmic dust
Cosmic dust is a type of dust composed of particles in space which are a few molecules to 0.1 µm in size. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location; for example: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust and circumplanetary dust .In our own Solar...
. The measured isotopic compositions demonstrate many aspects of nucleosynthesis within the stars from which the stardust grains condensed.
Explosive nucleosynthesis
This includes supernova nucleosynthesisSupernova nucleosynthesis
Supernova nucleosynthesis is the production of new chemical elements inside supernovae. It occurs primarily due to explosive nucleosynthesis during explosive oxygen burning and silicon burning...
, and produces the elements heavier than iron by an intense burst of nuclear reactions that typically last mere seconds during the explosion of the supernova core. In explosive environments of supernovae, the elements between silicon and nickel are synthesized by fast fusion. Also in supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
e further nucleosynthesis processes can occur, such as the r process
R-process
The r-process is a nucleosynthesis process, likely occurring in core-collapse supernovae responsible for the creation of approximately half of the neutron-rich atomic nuclei that are heavier than iron. The process entails a succession of rapid neutron captures on seed nuclei, typically Ni-56,...
, in which the most neutron-rich isotopes of elements heavier than nickel are produced by rapid absorption of free neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s released during the explosions. It is responsible for our natural cohort of radioactive elements, such as uranium and thorium, as well as the most neutron-rich isotopes of each heavy element.
The rp process
Rp-process
The rp-process consists of consecutive proton captures onto seed nuclei to produce heavier elements. It is a nucleosynthesis process and, along with the s process and the r process, may be responsible for the generation of many of the heavy elements present in the universe...
involves the rapid absorption of free proton
Proton
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
s as well as neutrons, but its role is less certain.
Explosive nucleosynthesis occurs too rapidly for radioactive decay to decrease the number of neutrons, so that many abundant isotopes having equal even numbers of protons and neutrons are synthesized by the alpha process to produce nuclides which consist of whole numbers of helium nuclei, up to 16 (representing 64Ge). Such nuclides are stable up to 40Ca (made of 10 helium nuclei), but heavier nuclei with equal numbers of protons and neutrons are radioactive. However, the alpha process continues to influence production of isobar
Isobar (nuclide)
Isobars are atoms of different chemical elements that have the same number of nucleons. Correspondingly, isobars differ in atomic number but not in mass number. An example of a series of isobars would be 40S, 40Cl, 40Ar, 40K, and 40Ca...
s of these nuclides, including at least the radioactive nuclides 44Ti, 48Cr, 52Fe, 56Ni, 60Zn, and 64Ge, most of which (save 44Ti and 60Zn) are created in such abundance as to decay after the explosion to create the most abundant stable isotope of the corresponding element at each atomic weight. Thus, the corresponding most common (abundant) isotopes of elements produced in this way are 48Ti, 52Cr, 56Fe, and 64Zn. Many such decays are accompanied by emission of gamma-ray lines capable of identifying the isotope that has just been created in the explosion.
The most convincing proof of explosive nucleosynthesis in supernovae occurred in 1987 when gamma-ray lines were detected emerging from supernova 1987A. Gamma ray lines identifying 56Co and 57Co, whose radioactive halflives limit their age to about a year, proved that 56Fe and 57Fe were created by radioactive parents. This nuclear astronomy was predicted in 1969 as a way to confirm explosive nucleosynthesis of the elements, and that prediction played an important role in the planning for NASA's successful Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory
Compton Gamma Ray Observatory
The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was a space observatory detecting light from 20 KeV to 30 GeV in Earth orbit from 1991 to 2000. It featured four main telescopes in one spacecraft covering x-rays and gamma-rays, including various specialized sub-instruments and detectors...
.
Other proofs of explosive nucleosynthesis are found within the stardust grains that condensed within the interiors of supernovae as they expanded and cooled. Stardust grains are one component of cosmic dust
Cosmic dust
Cosmic dust is a type of dust composed of particles in space which are a few molecules to 0.1 µm in size. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location; for example: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust and circumplanetary dust .In our own Solar...
. In particular, radioactive 44Ti was measured to be very abundant within supernova stardust grains at the time they condensed during the supernova expansion, confirming a 1975 prediction for identifying supernova stardust. Other unusual isotopic ratios within these grains reveal many specific aspects of explosive nucleosynthesis.
Cosmic ray spallation
Cosmic ray spallationCosmic ray spallation
Cosmic ray spallation is a form of naturally occurring nuclear fission and nucleosynthesis. It refers to the formation of elements from the impact of cosmic rays on an object. Cosmic rays are highly energetic charged particles from outside of Earth ranging from protons, alpha particles, and nuclei...
produces some of the lightest elements present in the universe (though not significant deuterium
Deuterium
Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is one of two stable isotopes of hydrogen. It has a natural abundance in Earth's oceans of about one atom in of hydrogen . Deuterium accounts for approximately 0.0156% of all naturally occurring hydrogen in Earth's oceans, while the most common isotope ...
). Most notably spallation is believed to be responsible for the generation of almost all of 3He and the elements lithium
Lithium
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal that belongs to the alkali metal group of chemical elements. It is represented by the symbol Li, and it has the atomic number 3. Under standard conditions it is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. Like all alkali metals, lithium is highly...
, beryllium
Beryllium
Beryllium is the chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a divalent element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in minerals. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include beryl and chrysoberyl...
and boron
Boron
Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
(some and are thought to have been produced in the Big Bang). The spallation process results from the impact of cosmic rays (mostly fast protons) against the interstellar medium
Interstellar medium
In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, dust, and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space...
. These impacts fragment carbon, nitrogen and oxygen nuclei present in the cosmic rays, and also these elements being struck by protons in cosmic rays. The process results in these light elements (Be, B, and Li) being present in cosmic rays at much higher proportion than they are represented in solar atmospheres, whereas H and He nuclei are represented in cosmic rays with approximately primordial abundance with regard to each other.
Beryllium and boron are not significantly produced in stellar fusion processes, because the instability of any 8Be formed from two 4He nuclei prevents simple 2-particle reaction building-up of these elements.
Empirical evidence
Theories of nucleosynthesis are tested by calculating isotopeIsotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
abundances and comparing with observed results. Isotope abundances are typically calculated by calculating the transition rates between isotopes in a network. Often these calculations can be simplified as a few key reactions control the rate of other reactions.
Minor mechanisms and processes
Amounts of certain nuclides are produced on Earth by artificial means, and this is their major source (for example, technetiumTechnetium
Technetium is the chemical element with atomic number 43 and symbol Tc. It is the lowest atomic number element without any stable isotopes; every form of it is radioactive. Nearly all technetium is produced synthetically and only minute amounts are found in nature...
). However, some nuclides are also by a number of natural means that have continued after primordial production of elements, discussed above, ceased. Often these act to produce new elements in ways that can be used to date rocks or check on the timing or source of geological processes. Although these processes are usually not major sources of nuclides, in the cases of the short-lived naturally-occurring nuclides that exhibit half-lives too short to be primordial (see list of nuclides), these processes are the entire source of the existing natural supply of the nuclide.
These mechanisms include:
- Radioactive decayRadioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
leading to specific radiogenic daughter nuclides. The nuclear decay of many long-lived primordial isotopes, especially uranium-235Uranium-235- References :* .* DOE Fundamentals handbook: Nuclear Physics and Reactor theory , .* A piece of U-235 the size of a grain of rice can produce energy equal to that contained in three tons of coal or fourteen barrels of oil. -External links:* * * one of the earliest articles on U-235 for the...
, uranium-238Uranium-238Uranium-238 is the most common isotope of uranium found in nature. It is not fissile, but is a fertile material: it can capture a slow neutron and after two beta decays become fissile plutonium-239...
, and thorium-232 produce many intermediate daughter nuclides, some of them quite short-lived, before finally decaying to isotopes of lead. The Earth's natural supply of elements like radonRadonRadon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, occurring naturally as the decay product of uranium or thorium. Its most stable isotope, 222Rn, has a half-life of 3.8 days...
and poloniumPoloniumPolonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive element, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores. Polonium has been studied for...
is via this mechanism. The atmosphere's supply of argon-40 is due mostly to the radioactive decay of potassium-40Potassium-40Potassium-40 is a radioactive isotope of potassium which has a very long half-life of 1.248 years, or about 39.38 seconds.Potassium-40 is a rare example of an isotope which undergoes all three types of beta decay. About 89.28% of the time, it decays to calcium-40 with emission of a beta particle...
in the time since the formation of the Earth, so most of this atmospheric argon is not primordial. In the case of alpha-decay, helium-4Helium-4Helium-4 is a non-radioactive isotope of helium. It is by far the most abundant of the two naturally occurring isotopes of helium, making up about 99.99986% of the helium on earth. Its nucleus is the same as an alpha particle, consisting of two protons and two neutrons. Alpha decay of heavy...
is produced directly by alpha-decay, and so the helium trapped in Earth's crust is also mostly non-primordial. In other types of radioactive decay, such as cluster decayCluster decayCluster decay is a type of nuclear decay in which a parent atomic nucleus with A nucleons and Z protons emits a cluster of Ne neutrons and Ze protons heavier than an alpha particle but lighter than a typical binary fission fragment Cluster decay (also named heavy particle radioactivity or heavy...
, other types of nuclei are ejected (for example, neon-20), and these eventually become newly-formed neutral atoms.
- Radioactive decayRadioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
leading to spontaneous fissionSpontaneous fissionSpontaneous fission is a form of radioactive decay characteristic of very heavy isotopes. Because the nuclear binding energy reaches a maximum at a nuclear mass greater than about 60 atomic mass units , spontaneous breakdown into smaller nuclei and single particles becomes possible at heavier masses...
. This is not cluster decay, for the fission products may be split among nearly any type of atom. Uranium-235 and uranium-238 are both primordial isotopes that undergo spontaneous fission. Natural technetium and promethiumPromethiumPromethium is a chemical element with the symbol Pm and atomic number 61. It is notable for being the only exclusively radioactive element besides technetium that is followed by chemical elements with stable isotopes.- Prediction :...
are produced in this way.
- Nuclear reactions. Naturally-occurring nuclear reactions powered by radioactive decayRadioactive decayRadioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing particles . The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays without any physical interaction with another particle from outside the atom...
give rise to so-called nucleogenicNucleogenicA nucleogenic isotope or nuclide, is one that is produced by a natural terrestrial nuclear reaction, other than a reaction beginning with cosmic rays . The nuclear reaction that produces nucleogenic nuclides is usually interaction with an alpha particle or the capture of fission or thermal neutron...
nuclides. This process happens when an energetic particle from a radioactive decay, often an alpha particle, reacts with a nucleus of another atom to change the nucleus into another nuclide. This process may also cause production of further subatomic particles, such as neutrons. Neutrons can also be produced in spontaneous fission and by neutron emissionNeutron emissionNeutron emission is a type of radioactive decay of atoms containing excess neutrons, in which a neutron is simply ejected from the nucleus. Two examples of isotopes which emit neutrons are helium-5 and beryllium-13...
(a type of radioactive decay). These neutrons can then go on to produce other nuclides via neutron-induced fission, or by neutron captureNeutron captureNeutron capture is a kind of nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus collides with one or more neutrons and they merge to form a heavier nucleus. Since neutrons have no electric charge they can enter a nucleus more easily than positively charged protons, which are repelled...
. For example, some stable isotopes like neon-21 and neon-22 are produced in several routes of nucleogenic synthesis, and thus only part of their abundance is primordial.
- Nuclear reactions due to cosmic rays. By convention, these reaction-products are not termed "nucleogenic" nuclides, but rather cosmogenic nuclides. Cosmic rays continue to produce new elements on Earth by the same cosmogenic processes discussed above that produced primordial beryllium and boron. An important example is carbon-14Carbon-14Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with a nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and colleagues , to date archaeological, geological, and hydrogeological...
, produced from nitrogen-14 in the atmosphere by cosmic rays. See also iodine-129Iodine-129Iodine-129 is long-lived radioisotope of iodine which occurs naturally, but also is of special interest in the monitoring and effects of man-made nuclear fission decay products, where it serves as both tracer and potential radiological contaminant....
for another example.
See also
- Stellar evolutionStellar evolutionStellar evolution is the process by which a star undergoes a sequence of radical changes during its lifetime. Depending on the mass of the star, this lifetime ranges from only a few million years to trillions of years .Stellar evolution is not studied by observing the life of a single...
- Supernova nucleosynthesisSupernova nucleosynthesisSupernova nucleosynthesis is the production of new chemical elements inside supernovae. It occurs primarily due to explosive nucleosynthesis during explosive oxygen burning and silicon burning...
- Cosmic dustCosmic dustCosmic dust is a type of dust composed of particles in space which are a few molecules to 0.1 µm in size. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location; for example: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust and circumplanetary dust .In our own Solar...
- MetallicityMetallicityIn astronomy and physical cosmology, the metallicity of an object is the proportion of its matter made up of chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium...
Further reading
- E. M. Burbidge, G. R. Burbidge, W. A. Fowler, F. Hoyle, Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, Rev. Mod. Phys.Reviews of Modern PhysicsThe Reviews of Modern Physics is a journal of the American Physical Society. The journal started in paper form. All volumes are also online by subscription.Issue 1, Volume 1 consisted of the review by...
29 (1957) 547 (article at the Physical ReviewPhysical ReviewPhysical Review is an American scientific journal founded in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research and scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Society. The journal is in its third series, and is split in several...
Online Archive (subscription required)). - F. Hoyle, Monthly Notices Roy. Astron. Soc. 106, 366 (1946)
- F. Hoyle, Astrophys. J. Suppl. 1, 121 (1954)
- D. D. Clayton, "Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis", McGraw-Hill, 1968; University of Chicago Press, 1983, ISBN 0-226-10952-6
- C. E. Rolfs, W. S. Rodney, Cauldrons in the Cosmos, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1988, ISBN 0-226-72457-3.
- D. D. Clayton, "Handbook of Isotopes in the Cosmos", Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 0 521 823811.
- C. Iliadis, "Nuclear Physics of Stars", Wiley-VCH, 2007, ISBN 978 3 527 40602 9