
“Recent breakthroughs in astronomical observations, especially the detection of gravitational waves, together with advances in instrumentation for subatomic physics experiments offer unique research opportunities. We will be able to understand how nuclear fission impacts the creation of heavy elements in the collision of neutron stars.
I am thrilled to be a part of this endeavor and grateful to the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation for making this research possible,” says Andreas Heinz, Associate Professor at the Department of Physics at Chalmers.
Together with Doctor Håkan T. Johansson and Professor Thomas Nilsson, he will investigate how the laws of the subatomic world, and in particular nuclear fission, influence the creation of heavy elements in the universe. For five years, the Chalmers researchers will carry out innovative experiments at the European research facility CERN in Switzerland.
“To understand how heavy elements are formed, astronomical observations alone are not sufficient. It is also necessary to understand the underlying nuclear physics processes caused by a high flux of neutrons,” says Andreas Heinz, leader of the recently founded project.
Text: Mia Halleröd Palmgren
Portrait photo: Anna-Lena Lundqvist
More about the project and the financier
The research project "Creation of heavy elements in neutron-star mergers" has been granted SEK 29,600,000 for five years by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.
What is a neutron star?
A neutron star is the remaining core of a star, which had about 10-20 times the mass of the sun. The core of such a star collapses once it runs out of material for nuclear fusion. Infalling matter bounces back from the extremely dense core, leading to a supernova explosion. The remaining core forms a neutron star with a density as high, or higher, than that of an atomic nucleus – with masses similar to those of the sun within a sphere of a few kilometers in diameter. The exact composition of neutron stars is not known. They are, short of black holes, the densest known objects in the universe.