Reconstructing the Cosmic Evolution of the Chemical Elements
Name
Frebel-2014-Reconstructing the C.pdf
Size
238.02 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d94bdfb076b6484292bfc9afa8df9ad4
Author(s)
Frebel, Anna L.
Date Issued
September 2014
Journal
Daedalus
Publisher
MIT Press
Citation
Frebel, Anna. “Reconstructing the Cosmic Evolution of the Chemical Elements.” Daedalus 143, no. 4 (October 2014): 71–80.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The chemical elements are created in nuclear fusion processes in the hot and dense cores of stars. The energy generated through nucleosynthesis allows stars to shine for billions of years. When these stars explode as massive supernovae, the newly made elements are expelled, chemically enriching the surrounding regions. Subsequent generations of stars are formed from gas that is slightly more element-enriched than that from which previous stars formed. This chemical evolution can be traced back to its beginning soon after the Big Bang by studying the oldest and most metal-poor stars still observable in the Milky Way today. Through chemical analysis, they provide the only available tool for gaining information about the nature of the short-lived first stars and their supernova explosions more than thirteen billion years ago. These events set in motion the transformation of the pristine universe into a rich cosmos of chemically diverse planets, stars, and galaxies.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00307
