Astronomers have discovered an unexpected cosmic factory for gold, platinum and other precious heavy elements: the violent flares that erupt from the universe’s most magnetic star magnets. This groundbreaking discovery, published in the Astrophysics Journal letter on April 29, reveals these extraordinary stellar explosions, creating conditions that are well suited to forge the rarest elements of the universe.
The discovery solved a 20-year-old astronomical mystery while building up the magnet, the second source of heavy elements produced by rapid neutron capture (R-Process) nucleus synthesis, and added neutron stars to this exclusive club.
“This is really just the second time we’ve seen evidence of these elements directly forming,” said Brian Metzger, a senior research scientist at the Center for Computer Astrophysics at Fredron College and a professor at Columbia University. “This is a substantial leap in our understanding of heavy-duty element production.”
The researchers analyzed confusing gamma-ray signals detected after the massive flare of Magnetar SGR 1806-20 in December 2004. Although the initial explosion was immediately determined, the smaller signal peaks were still unexplainable until now after the second 10 minutes.
Anirudh Patel, lead author of Columbia University’s doctoral candidate Anirudh Patel, calculated that this delayed gamma ray emission is exactly what is expected for the radioactivity attenuation of freshly synthesized R-Process elements. Their analysis shows that this single flare produces about one-third of the Earth’s mass in heavy metals.
“Think of the heavy elements around us, such as precious metals in our phones and computers, are produced in these crazy extreme environments,” Patel said.
Magnets are neutron stars with a magnetic field that is trillions of times higher than the Earth. During giant flares, these stars can pop up neutron-rich materials from the Earth’s crust at speeds close to significant speeds. Under these extreme conditions, the researchers showed that the R process could occur, resulting in an unstable heavy nucleus that decays into stable elements, such as gold.
Scientists estimate that magnet flares may account for 1-10% of all R process elements in our galaxy. This discovery helps solve the ongoing puzzle of astronomy: unexpected heavy elements in young galaxies cannot be explained by the merger of neutron stars alone.
“Magnetic giant flares may be the solution to the problems we have, with elements seen in young galaxies that are heavier than those produced by collisions of neutron stars alone,” Patel noted.
This discovery is of great significance to understanding the cosmic origins of elements essential to Earth and human technology. Although hydrogen, helium and lithium were formed during the Big Bang, almost everything else was made by stars in their lives or death. However, the birthplace of many heavy elements remains elusive so far.
The research team actually predicted this phenomenon in theoretical work earlier this year, calculating that the giant flare would eject material from the disk’s shell, creating perfect conditions for R-Process core synthesis. When discussing their findings with observational gamma-ray astronomers, they learned about unexplained 2004 signals.
“For years, the event was forgotten,” Metzger said. “But we quickly realized that our model was perfect for it.”
Future observations of magnetic flares may further improve our understanding of heavy elements. NASA’s upcoming Compton Spectrometer and Imager mission, which will be launched in 2027, will have improved capabilities to detect and analyze these signals.
The study highlights the ongoing mysteries of the origin of elements and suggests that there may be other undiscovered sources. “We can’t rule out the third or fourth site that we haven’t seen yet,” Metzger added.
For astronomers who want to participate in the next R-Process event, timing is crucial. “Once a gamma-ray burst is detected, you have to point the UV telescope to the source within 10 to 15 minutes to see the peak of the signal and confirm that the R-Process element is confirmed there,” Metzger said. “It would be an interesting chase.”
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