Stars Dissolve into Neutrons to Form Heavy Elements, Study Suggests

Stars Dissolve into Neutrons to Form Heavy Elements, Study Suggests

High-energy photons produced deep in gamma-ray burst jets emerging from a collapsed star could dissolve the outer stellar layers into free neutrons, causing a series of physical processes that results in the formation of heavy elements, according to a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal.

A high-energy photonic jet (white and blue) blasts through a collapsar with a black hole at its center; the red space around the jet represents the cocoon where free neutrons may be captured causing the r-process, the nucleosynthesis that results in the formation of heavy elements. Image credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

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