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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.
Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of its lifetime and how it can lead to the creation of a new star. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is considerably longer than the current age of the ...
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 B 2 FH paper was ostensibly a review article summarising recent advances in the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. [8] However, it went beyond simply reviewing Hoyle's work, by incorporating observational measurements of elemental abundances published by the Burbidges, and Fowler's laboratory experiments on nuclear reactions.
Primary stellar nucleosynthesis begins earlier in the galaxy than does secondary nucleosynthesis. Alternatively the high density of neutrons within neutron stars would be available for rapid assembly into r-process nuclei if a collision were to eject portions of a neutron star, which then rapidly expands freed from confinement.
Today, nucleosynthesis is widely considered to have taken place in two stages: formation of hydrogen and helium according to the Alpher–Bethe–Gamow theory, and stellar nucleosynthesis of higher elements according to Bethe and Hoyle's later theories.
There he initiated a graduate-student course explaining nuclear reactions in stars as the mechanism for the creation of the atoms of our chemical elements. His pioneering textbook based on that course (Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis, McGraw-Hill 1968) earned ongoing praise.
A version of the periodic table indicating the origins – including big bang nucleosynthesis – of the elements. All elements above 103 are also man-made and are not included. Big Bang nucleosynthesis produced very few nuclei of elements heavier than lithium due to a bottleneck: the absence of a stable nucleus with 8 or 5 nucleons. This ...