Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In astrophysics, stellar nucleosynthesis is the creation of chemical elements by nuclear fusion reactions within stars. Stellar nucleosynthesis has occurred since the original creation of hydrogen, helium and lithium during the Big Bang. As a predictive theory, it yields accurate estimates of the observed abundances of the elements.
The products of stellar nucleosynthesis are generally dispersed into the interstellar gas through mass loss episodes and the stellar winds of low mass stars. The mass loss events can be witnessed today in the planetary nebulae phase of low-mass star evolution, and the explosive ending of stars, called supernovae , of those with more than eight ...
The x-process in cosmic rays is the primary means of nucleosynthesis for the five stable isotopes of lithium, beryllium, and boron. [2] As the proton–proton chain reaction cannot proceed beyond 4 He due to the unbound nature of 5 He and 5 Li, [ 3 ] and the triple-alpha process skips over all species between 4 He and 12 C, these elements are ...
The s-process is believed to occur mostly in asymptotic giant branch stars, seeded by iron nuclei left by a supernova during a previous generation of stars. In contrast to the r-process which is believed to occur over time scales of seconds in explosive environments, the s-process is believed to occur over time scales of thousands of years, passing decades between neutron captures.
Gamow discovered a theoretical explanation of alpha decay by quantum tunneling, invented the liquid drop model - the first mathematical model of the atomic nucleus, worked on radioactive decay, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, Big Bang nucleosynthesis (which he collectively called nucleocosmogenesis), predicted the existence of the ...
The final stage in the stellar nucleosynthesis process is the silicon-burning process that results in the production of the stable isotope iron-56. [209] Any further fusion would be an endothermic process that consumes energy, and so further energy can only be produced through gravitational collapse.
It was eventually recognized that most of the heavy elements observed in the present universe are the result of stellar nucleosynthesis in stars, a theory largely developed by Hans Bethe, William Fowler and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. Bethe had been a last minute addition to Alpher's dissertation examining committee.
He also formed a group at Cambridge exploring stellar nucleosynthesis in ordinary stars and was bothered by the paucity of stellar carbon production in existing models. He noticed that one existing process would be made a billion times more productive if the carbon-12 nucleus had a resonance at 7.7 MeV, but nuclear physicists at the time ...