Post by Funda Tamdogan

New Nuclear Physics Breakthrough Sheds Light on How Stars Create Gold Physicists from the University of Tennessee have made three major discoveries that improve our understanding of how heavy elements like gold and platinum are formed in extreme cosmic events such as supernova explosions, neutron star collisions, and stellar collapses. These elements are produced through the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), where atomic nuclei rapidly absorb neutrons and become unstable before breaking down into more stable elements. Using the ISOLDE facility at CERN, researchers studied the rare isotope indium-134 and its decay into different tin isotopes. With advanced neutron detectors, they made three key discoveries: First measurement of neutron energies from beta-delayed two-neutron emission, a rare process occurring in exotic nuclei. This provides important data for improving models of heavy-element formation in stars. First observation of a long-predicted neutron state in tin-133, showing that nuclei retain information about how they were formed rather than completely “forgetting” their origin during decay. Unexpected non-statistical population of this nuclear state, suggesting that current theoretical models may not fully explain nuclear behavior in extremely unstable nuclei. These findings help scientists better model the nuclear processes that produce heavy elements in the universe and may lead to new theories about the behavior of exotic atomic nuclei. ournal Reference: P. Dyszel, R. Grzywacz, Z. Y. Xu, N. Kitamura, M. Karny, A. Korgul, M. Madurga, S. Neupane, A. Algora, A. N. Andreyev, M. Araszkiewicz, R. A. Bark, J. Benito, N. Bernier, M. J. G. Borge, M. Caballero, P. Chuchala, T. E. Cocolios, C. Costache, J. G. Cubiss, H. DeWitte, J. E. Escher, D. Fernandez-Ruiz, A. Fijalkowska, L. M. Fraile, H. O. U. Fynbo, J. Gouge, J. L. Herraiz, A. Illana, P. M. Jones, D. S. Judson, P. Kamińska, T. Kawano, K. Kolos, M. Labiche, R. Lică, M. Llanos-Expósito, G. G. DeLorenzo, N. Marginean, I. Michelon, C. Mihai, E. Nácher, C. Neacsu, J. S. Nielsen, B. Olaizola, J. N. Orce, C. A. A. Page, R. D. Page, J. Pakarinen, A. Perea, M. Piersa-Siłkowska, Zs. Podolyák, J. S. Prieto, M. Rajabali, J. Shaw, A. I. Sison, K. Solak, M. Stryjczyk, O. Tengblad, P. G. T. Vicente, N. Warr, J. Wilson, Z. Yue, S. Zajda. First β-Delayed Two-Neutron Spectroscopy of the r-Process Nucleus In134 and Observation of the i13/2 Single-Particle Neutron State in Sn133. Physical Review Letters, 2025; 135 (15) DOI: 10.1103/l24v-5m31 #NuclearScience #AdvancedScience #BigScience #ScientificInnovation #STEM #Science #Innovation #FutureOfScience #CosmicOrigins #StellarPhysics #NeutronStars #Supernova #RProcess