hydrogen nuclei tagged posts

How Heavy Elements come about in the universe

For the first time, the fusion of hydrogen and xenon was able to be investigated at the same temperatures as occur in stellar explosions using an ion storage ring.
Credit: Mario Weigand

An experiment at GSI simulates how heavy elements capture protons. Heavy elements are produced during stellar explosion or on the surfaces of neutron stars through the capture of hydrogen nuclei (protons). This occurs at extremely high temperatures, but at relatively low energies. An international research team headed by Goethe University has now succeeded in investigating the capture of protons at the storage ring of the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung.

As the scientists report in the current issue of Physical Review Letters, their goal was to determine more precisely the probability for...

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