What does a neutron star merger really mean? Gold weighing 13 Earth masses can be thrown out at once
Where does the gold come from?
Gold, an important metal for resource exchange as a general equivalent since ancient times. Gold remains a very important metal today, both in metal manufacturing and in economic demand. The gold in nature is limited, but the gold of the earth is limited, and more resources are in space. While we are learning about gold, how many people have thought about how gold came from? Or where does it really come from, and why is this expensive precious metal still uncommon today? Now, after years of research, scientists have finally found the place where gold was born, a neutron star. Scientists initially studied the gravitational waves produced by neutron star mergers, but this research has since extended to thinking about the origin of heavy metals in the universe. The neutron star merged gravitational waves under artistic creation is a result of general relativity, but in space, only celestial bodies like black holes and neutron stars can be produced. Because they are dense enough, the resulting gravitational force can even distort space. Scientists predict that neutron stars end as stars as special objects, and when two neutron stars collide, they produce elements heavier than nickel and iron in the periodic table and emit gravitational waves as they spiral inward. The result of such space-time ripples is a neutron star merger, and the collision of neutron stars will provide the environment for the production of these heavy elements, such as platinum, uranium and gold. To pinpoint this specific phenomenon and validate the theory, scientists used the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and the Virgo Interferometer in Italy to conduct joint observations. Such searches eventually led scientists to NGC 4993, an elliptical galaxy in the constellation Hydra, 130 million light-years away. The gravitational wave source is named GW170817, and the naming format is mainly based on date. Scientists from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom explained that a neutron star collision would produce a highly radioactive fireball. In theory, the heavier elements of subatomic particles are shattered and fused together during violent collisions in neutron stars. Relevant researchers used spectrometers to see the spectrum of heavy elements revealed by the infrared light of neutron stars, where a large amount of material was released. This is undoubtedly an important discovery as part of the study of the origin of heavy matter in the universe and matter on Earth. The GW170817 scientists observed by the scientists also pointed out that although the heavy elements brought by the collision of two neutron stars are only a tiny fraction of the process, the mass of gold and platinum in them is equivalent to 10 times the mass of the Earth. The pure solid precious metal brought by the collision of neutron stars alone exceeds 100 Earth masses, and it turns out that neutron stars are very good at making heavy elements. Once these elements are nearby, they merge with asteroids, and celestial bodies such as Earth should have gathered so many heavy elements in collisions that they brought a lot of gold. Optical curves observed and recorded by scientists"cannonball" sounded, golden taels
In the universe, it is not easy for a star to become a neutron star. The initial mass of a main sequence star must be at least 8 times the mass of the Sun to be able to produce a neutron star. As the star moves further away from the main sequence, the burning of the core creates an iron-rich core. When all the material inside the star that can support nuclear fusion is exhausted, the inside of the star must rely on degenerate pressure to support itself. Chandrasekhar Limit Performance Curve Once the pressure brought by this accumulation exceeds the Chandrasekhar limit, the electron degeneracy pressure is overcome, the core collapses further, and the temperature becomes abnormally high. Under these conditions, the iron core inside the star is broken down into alpha particles by high-energy gamma rays. As the temperature increases, electrons and protons are captured by electrons to form neutrons, and a large number of neutrinos are released. The neutrino event can be visualized. When the inner density reaches 4×1017 kg/m3, the combination of repulsive force and seed degeneracy pressure will stop the star from shrinking, and the outer layer of the star is stopped by the neutrino flow generated by neutrons and moves outward. Ejection, eventually becoming a supernova or neutron star. Neutron stars, as a very special kind of celestial body, are surprisingly high in mass and temperature. Over time, however, the neutron star's interior temperature will gradually decrease. Neutron stars spin at hundreds of times per second, and some also emit electromagnetic radiation, making them pulsars. In the past, scientists believed that supernova explosions may be an important reason for the origin of heavy elements in the universe. Heavy elements are rarer in galaxies in the universe than other lighter elements, and the heavier the elements, the more pronounced it is. This is due to the difficulty of making them, in addition to maintaining their own energy and operation, the star avoids collapsing under the influence of its own weight. The nuclear fusion inside the star fuses hydrogen and helium at the beginning of the reaction, and later converts the elements into carbon and oxygen. But the energy of these reactions can only go up to the point of iron, and there is no way to go any higher, because it takes more energy to make heavier elements. But in a supernova explosion, scientists think it releases enough energy to produce heavier elements. Different celestial bodies exhibit different effects. Therefore, in the 1950s, scientists believed that the slow neutron capture process, that is, the s process, may be the origin of the heavy elements. But scientists soon discovered that the s-process could not explain the origin of gold, silver, platinum, and heavier metals. For them to appear well, they must be synthesized when fast-flowing neutrons bombard iron nuclei. The fast neutron capture process, also known as the r-process, is responsible for producing about half of the nuclei heavier than iron, the heavy elements. Nuclear physics in the r process However, it was very difficult to study the r process at that time, first of all, the experimental conditions could not be reached at all, and no one really observed the emergence of the r process. Because in terms of the experimental mechanism, the isotopes involved in the s process have half-lives long enough to be studied in the laboratory. Also the s-process occurs mostly in ordinary stars, which means it's common. The neutron flux is sufficient for neutron capture to repeat every 10-100 years. In contrast, the s process is very slow for the r process, which is captured 100 times per second, which makes it difficult to perform in the laboratory. The pulsing performance of neutron stars Gold is a star
After decades of discussion, it was not until the discovery of GW170817 in 2017 that scientists' conjecture was finally confirmed. The visible light produced by the merger of neutron stars is the material for its research, and there is also a large number of r-process element radioactive decays. When two neutron stars approach each other, they spiral inward due to gravitational radiation. Eventually merge into a more massive neutron star or black hole, depending on whether the mass of the remnant exceeds the "Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov limit". The merger event can generate a magnetic field trillions of times stronger than Earth's within 1 millisecond, resulting in a brief burst of gamma rays. Simply put, a neutron star merger is a collision of celestial bodies. Neutron stars at the center of the Crab Nebula As we said earlier, light elements formed relatively quickly in the early universe, and they were incorporated into stars due to gravity. The motion of a star fuses its hydrogen into helium, helium into carbon, and so on, and more massive stars fuse atomic nuclei all the way to iron. As the periodic table shows, heavier elements require more powerful collision energies. As long as the reaction happens fast enough that radioactive decay doesn't have a chance to happen until more neutrons have been added to the nucleus. The collisions brought about by neutron star mergers are explosive, creating a shell of matter that expands outward at 20 to 30 percent of the speed of light, and most of the material is made up of new elements. Elements on the periodic table reveal this process. These elements absorb certain wavelengths of light, so scientists can use this to compare them. Which wavelengths are absorbed how much by which substances, and compare them to the specific elements we've discovered or made. Proving the correspondence between elements and spectra is difficult, however, because scientists do not yet have a complete grasp of the spectral appearance of the heavier elements in the periodic table. But in terms of already observed spectra, scientists can model them and create a composite spectrum that provides a deeper understanding of what their corresponding elements look like. Gold is undoubtedly part of a neutron star merger, at least as far as the discovery is concerned. The strontium element is probably this way. The same discovery also has the strontium element with a wavelength of 350-850 nanometers. The neutron star merger will also bring a large amount of strontium, which is probably more than 5 times the mass of the earth. Following the confirmation of the GW170817 event, current astrophysical models suggest that a single neutron star merger event could produce 3 to 13 Earth masses of gold. Although the current astrophysical model still needs to be perfected, at least now we understand that the gold teeth in his mouth or the gold necklace around his neck may be the result of the last neutron star merger.