Abstract
Astrophysical observations give scientists the most essential information about the processes and “rates of production” of elements in nature and their abundance in the Universe. The lightest elements of the Periodic Table—hydrogen, helium, and, partially, lithium—appeared in the first seconds after the birth of the Universe. The first stars “gathered” from them; they enriched the Universe with heavier elements during the evolutionary process, with the participation of which “modern” stars subsequently formed. These stars, in turn, serve as natural factories for the synthesis of heavy elements not only throughout their lives but also during their deaths in supernova outbursts. The recent discovery of the fusion of neutron stars and subsequent studies of their afterglow revealed the features of the formation of superheavy elements in the Universe up to gold and uranium.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
R. A. Alpher, H. Bethe, and G. Gamov, “The origin of chemical elements,” Phys. Rev. 73, 803–804 (1948).
E. Burbidge, G. Burbidge, W. Fowler, and F. Hoyle, “Synthesis of the elements in stars,” Rev. Mod. Phys. 29, 547–650 (1957).
LIGO Sci. Collab. and Virgo Collab., Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor, and INTEGRAL, “Gravitational waves and gamma-rays from a binary neutron star merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A,” Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L13 (2017).
R. Sunyaev, A. Kaniovsky, V. Efremov, et al., “Discovery of hard X-ray emission from supernova 1987A,” Nature 330, 227–229 (1987).
S. A. Grebenev, A. A. Lutovinov, S. S. Tsygankov, and C. Winkler, “Hard X-ray emission lines from the decay of 44Ti in the remnant of supernova 1987A,” Nature 490, 373–375 (2012).
E. Churazov, R. Sunyaev, J. Isern, et al., “56CO gamma-ray emission lines from the type Ia supernova SN2014J,” Nature 512, 406–408 (2014).
J. H. Taylor, Nobel Prize Lecture, 1993. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1993/taylor/lecture/.
D. Eichler, M. Livio, T. Piran, and D. N. Schramm, “Nucleosynthesis, neutrino bursts, and γ-rays from coalescing neutron stars,” Nature 340, 126–128 (1989).
V. Savchenko, C. Ferrigno, A. Lutovinov, et al., “INTEGRAL detection of the first prompt gamma-ray signal coincident with the gravitational-wave event GW170817,” Astrophys. J. Lett. 848, L15 (2017).
B. Metzger, “Welcome to the multi-messenger era! Lessons from a neutron star merger and the landscape ahead.” https://arxiv.org/abs/1710.05931.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This report used materials and illustrations from the websites of NASA, ESA, LIGO/Viro Caltech, and the Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Translated by O. Zhukova
Alexander Anatol’evich Lutovinov Dr. Sci. (Phys.–Math.), is a Professor of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Deputy Director of the Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lutovinov, A.A. Chemical Elements in Space. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 90, 239–244 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331620020136
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331620020136