| Nuclear physics |
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High-energy processes |
Nuclear astrophysics studies the origin of thechemical elements and isotopes, and the role of nuclear energy generation, in cosmic sources such asstars,supernovae,novae, and violentbinary-star interactions.It is an interdisciplinary part of bothnuclear physics andastrophysics, involving close collaboration among researchers in various subfields of each of these fields. This includes, notably,nuclear reactions and their rates as they occur in cosmic environments, and modeling of astrophysical objects where these nuclear reactions may occur, but also considerations of cosmic evolution of isotopic and elemental composition (often called chemical evolution). Constraints from observations involve multiple messengers, all across the electromagnetic spectrum (nuclear gamma-rays,X-rays,optical, and radio/sub-mmastronomy), as well as isotopic measurements of solar-system materials such as meteorites and their stardust inclusions,cosmic rays, material deposits on Earth and Moon). Nuclear physics experiments address stability (i.e.,lifetimes and masses) for atomic nuclei well beyond the regime ofstable nuclides into the realm ofradioactive/unstable nuclei, almost to the limits of bound nuclei (thedrip lines), and under high density (up toneutron star matter) and high temperature (plasma temperatures up to109 K). Theories and simulations are essential parts herein, as cosmic nuclear reaction environments cannot be realized, but at best partially approximated by experiments.
In the 1940s, geologistHans Suess speculated that the regularity that was observed in the abundances of elements may be related to structural properties of the atomic nucleus.[1] These considerations were seeded by the discovery of radioactivity byBecquerel in 1896[2] as an aside of advances in chemistry which aimed at production of gold. This remarkable possibility for transformation of matter created much excitement among physicists for the next decades, culminating in discovery of theatomic nucleus, with milestones inErnest Rutherford's scattering experiments in 1911, and the discovery of the neutron byJames Chadwick (1932). AfterAston demonstrated that the mass of helium is less than four times that of the proton,Eddington proposed that, through an unknown process in the Sun's core, hydrogen is transmuted into helium, liberating energy.[3] Twenty years later,Bethe andvon Weizsäcker independently derived theCN cycle,[4][5] the first known nuclear reaction that accomplishes this transmutation. The interval between Eddington's proposal and derivation of the CN cycle can mainly be attributed to an incomplete understanding ofnuclear structure. The basic principles for explaining the origin of elements and energy generation in stars appear in the concepts describingnucleosynthesis, which arose in the 1940s, led byGeorge Gamow and presented in a 2-page paper in 1948 as theAlpher–Bethe–Gamow paper. A complete concept of processes that make up cosmic nucleosynthesis was presented in the late 1950s by Burbidge, Burbidge,Fowler, andHoyle,[6] and byCameron.[7] Fowler is largely credited with initiating collaboration between astronomers, astrophysicists, and theoretical and experimental nuclear physicists, in a field that we now know as nuclear astrophysics[8] (for which he won the 1983 Nobel Prize). During these same decades,Arthur Eddington and others were able to link the liberation of nuclear binding energy through such nuclear reactions to the structural equations of stars.[9]
These developments were not without curious deviations. Many notable physicists of the 19th century such asMayer, Waterson,von Helmholtz, andLord Kelvin, postulated that theSun radiates thermal energy by convertinggravitational potential energy intoheat. Its lifetime as calculated from this assumption using thevirial theorem, around 19 million years, was found inconsistent with the interpretation ofgeological records and the (then new) theory ofbiological evolution. Alternatively, if the Sun consisted entirely of afossil fuel likecoal, considering the rate of its thermal energy emission, its lifetime would be merely four or five thousand years, clearly inconsistent with records ofhuman civilization.
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During cosmic times, nuclear reactions re-arrange the nucleons that were left behind from the big bang (in the form of isotopes ofhydrogen andhelium, and traces oflithium,beryllium, andboron) to other isotopes and elements as we find them today (see graph).[10] The driver is a conversion of nuclear binding energy to exothermic energy, favoring nuclei with more binding of their nucleons — these are then lighter as their original components by the binding energy. The most tightly-bound nucleus from symmetric matter of neutrons and protons is56Ni.[11] The release of nuclear binding energy is what allows stars to shine for up to billions of years, and may disrupt stars in stellar explosions in case of violent reactions (such as12C+12C fusion for thermonuclear supernova explosions). As matter is processed as such within stars and stellar explosions, some of the products are ejected from the nuclear-reaction site and end up in interstellar gas. Then, it may form new stars, and be processed further through nuclear reactions, in a cycle of matter. This results in compositional evolution of cosmic gas in and between stars and galaxies, enriching such gas with heavier elements. Nuclear astrophysics is the science to describe and understand the nuclear and astrophysical processes within such cosmic and galactic chemical evolution, linking it to knowledge from nuclear physics and astrophysics. Measurements are used to test our understanding: Astronomical constraints are obtained from stellar and interstellar abundance data of elements and isotopes, and other multi-messenger astronomical measurements of the cosmic object phenomena help to understand and model these. Nuclear properties can be obtained from terrestrial nuclear laboratories such as accelerators with their experiments. Theory and simulations are needed to understand and complement such data, providing models for nuclear reaction rates under the variety of cosmic conditions, and for the structure and dynamics of cosmic objects.
Nuclear astrophysics remains as a complex puzzle to science.[12] The current consensus on the origins of elements and isotopes are that only hydrogen and helium (and traces of lithium) can be formed in a homogeneousBig Bang (seeBig Bang nucleosynthesis), while all other elements and their isotopes are formed in cosmic objects that formed later, such as in stars and their explosions.[13]
The Sun's primary energy source is hydrogen fusion to helium at about 15 million degrees. Theproton–proton chain reactions dominate, they occur at much lower energies although much more slowly than catalytic hydrogen fusion through CNO cycle reactions. Nuclear astrophysics gives a picture of the Sun's energy source producing a lifetime consistent with the age of the Solar System derived frommeteoritic abundances oflead anduranium isotopes – an age of about 4.5 billion years. The core hydrogen burning of stars, as it now occurs in the Sun, defines themain sequence of stars, illustrated in theHertzsprung-Russell diagram that classifies stages of stellar evolution. The Sun's lifetime of H burning via pp-chains is about 9 billion years. This primarily is determined by extremely slow production of deuterium,
| 1 1H | + | 1 1H | → | 2 1D | + | e+ | + | ν e | + | 0.42 MeV |
which is governed by the weak interaction.
Work that led to discovery ofneutrino oscillation (implying a non-zero mass for the neutrino absent in theStandard Model ofparticle physics) was motivated by a solar neutrino flux about three times lower than expected from theories — a long-standing concern in the nuclear astrophysics community colloquially known asthe Solar neutrino problem.
The concepts of nuclear astrophysics are supported by observation of the elementtechnetium (the lightest chemical element without stable isotopes) in stars,[14] by galactic gamma-ray line emitters (such as26Al,[15]60Fe, and44Ti[16]), by radioactive-decay gamma-ray lines from the56Ni decay chain observed from two supernovae (SN1987A and SN2014J) coincident with optical supernova light, and by observation of neutrinos from the Sun[17] and fromsupernova 1987a. These observations have far-reaching implications.26Al has a lifetime of a million years, which is very short on agalactic timescale, proving that nucleosynthesis is an ongoing process within our Milky Way Galaxy in the current epoch.
Current descriptions of the cosmic evolution of elemental abundances are broadly consistent with those observed in the Solar System and galaxy.[13]
The roles of specific cosmic objects in producing these elemental abundances are clear for some elements, and heavily debated for others. For example, iron is believed to originate mostly from thermonuclear supernova explosions (also called supernovae of type Ia), and carbon and oxygen is believed to originate mostly from massive stars and their explosions. Lithium, beryllium, and boron are believed to originate from spallation reactions of cosmic-ray nuclei such as carbon and heavier nuclei, breaking these apart.[13] Elements heavier than nickel are produced via theslow andrapidneutron capture processes, each contributing roughly half the abundance of these elements.[18] The s-process is believed to occur in the envelopes of dying stars, whereas some uncertainty exists regardingr-process sites. Ther-process is believed to occur in supernova explosions andcompact object mergers, though observational evidence is limited to a single event,GW170817, and relative yields of proposed r-process sites leading to observed heavy element abundances are uncertain.[13][18][19]
The transport of nuclear reaction products from their sources through the interstellar and intergalactic medium also is unclear. Additionally, many nuclei that are involved in cosmic nuclear reactions are unstable and may only exist temporarily in cosmic sites, and their properties (e.g., binding energy) cannot be investigated in the laboratory due to difficulties in their synthesis. Similarly, stellar structure and its dynamics is not satisfactorily described in models and hard to observe except throughasteroseismology, and supernova explosion models lack a consistent description based on physical processes, and include heuristic elements. Current research extensively utilizescomputation and numerical modeling.[20]
Although the foundations of nuclear astrophysics appear clear and plausible, many puzzles remain. These include understandinghelium fusion (specifically the12C(α,γ)16O reaction(s)),[21] astrophysical sites of ther-process,[18]anomalous lithium abundances inpopulation II stars,[22] the explosion mechanism incore-collapse supernovae,[20] and progenitors ofthermonuclear supernovae.[23]
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