A third of the mass of the earth in gold produced during cataclysmic eruptions
An eruption of magnetar can generate an astronomical quantity of heavy elements such as gold and platinum. © NASA/JPL-CALTECH
Astronomers have resolved two mysteries at once: the nature of an extremely powerful flash dating from 2004 and the way in which the rare and heavy elements are formed in the universe.
In 2004, therefore, a space telescope identified a violent puff of X -ray towards the constellation of Sagittarius (SGR 1806–20). Quite quickly, astronomers find the manager: an almost deadly magnetized star and a density exceeding all the other objects in the universe. It is a magnetar type neutron star. Only one die of this material weighs a billion tonnes!
Animation of a magnetar flash. © Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (USRA)
The magnetic field of these stars is the most powerful known in the universe. During cataclysmic recombinations of this field, ultra -violent eruptions can take place. This was the case in 2004. The star expelled a million times the energy that the sun frees in a year! And 10 min later, a second, less intense eruption.
2 million billion billion kilos of heavy elements like gold!
Document showing this new other origin of gold in the universe, from magnetars flash. © Lucy Reading-Ikkanda/Simons Foundation
Astronomers of the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics (CCA) of New York realized that the second flash of 2004 alone produced a third of the mass of the earth in gold, platinum and this type of heavy elements. This is what they relate inThis item.
Indeed, since 2017 and the observation of the fusion of two neutron stars, we had proof that the rapid capture process of neutrons (R-Placess) which was supposed to be at the origin of gold found the conditions necessary for its realization in this type of scenarios, but we struggled to explain the abundance of these elements with this single source.
“”It is quite incredible to think that some of the heavy elements around us, such as precious metals in our phones and computers, are produced in these crazy extreme environments“, says Anirudh Patel, doctoral student at Columbia University and principal author of the new study.
Scientists have shown that these cataclysmic eruptions (“flares” in English) release unstable and very heavy radioactive nuclei which disintegrate in gold by emitting a glow of the genre observed in 2004 (especially in gamma).
“”But however we cannot exclude that there may be a third or fourth other source to these heavy elements that we simply have not yet seen“Said Metzger, second author of the article.
Periodic table of elements in the solar system, with their astrophysical origin. © NASA
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