A group of nuclear physicists located in the United Kingdom are one step closer to understanding the various elements that go into the making of stars. What they are looking for lasts only a short time. In fact, some of the elements believed to exist within the core of a star may only be around for a trillionth of a trillionth of a second. These are not easy particles to locate.
The step in question is the development of a detector that is sensitive enough to sniff out these fleeting elements.
“Nobody knows exactly how many elements are out there waiting to be discovered, or how they are created, but we will be able to study new nuclei that have never been seen before, and find answers to information that is still missing about extreme states of matter in the Universe.” said Roy Lemmon of The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).
We know that average stars, such as our Sun, are largely composed of helium and hydrogen, the two lightest elements. In addition, most stars have various amounts of oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and iron, much of which came from previous stars. It’s the fleeting elements in the explosion of a massive star that these scientists are after.
Specifically, the team is looking to eventually create and then detect extremely rare elements that are only found within supernovae, or the aforementioned exploding stars. The detector will ultimately be used in FAIR (Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research), located in Germany. The research facility will utilize over three thousands scientists from fifty countries.
It is expected that the setup at FAIR will be among the most advanced nuclear physics research facility for years to come. They will use a particle accelerator, much like the Large Hadron Collider. If some areas of string theory are correct, it is predicted that as these particle accelerators become more powerful, they may eventually have the ability to create black holes!
At the University of Liverpool, leader Dr Marielle Chartier said: “The successful commissioning of one of the first Silicon detector modules in an “in-beam” test at the accelerator facility at GSI, Germany, was a key milestone for the project.”
You can expect further develops in this field, as multiple individuals from across the globe strive to build upon our knowledge of the cosmos and the making of stars.
