Published: 18 March 2025Physicists have measured a nuclear reaction that can occur in neutron star collisions, providing direct experimental data for a process that had previously only been theorised. The study, led by the University of Surrey, provides new insight into how the universe’s heaviest elements are forged – and could even drive advancements in nuclear reactor physics.
Working in collaboration with the University of York, the Materials Science Institute of Seville (CSIC-Univ. Seville), and TRIUMF, Canada’s national particle accelerator centre, the breakthrough marks the first-ever measurement of a weak r-process reaction cross-section using a radioactive ion beam, in this case studying the 94Sr(α,n)97Zr reaction. This is where a radioactive form of strontium (strontium-94) absorbs an alpha particle (a helium nucleus), then emits a neutron and transforms into zirconium-97.
The study has been published as an Editors Suggestion in Physical Review Letters.
Related press releases:
https://triumf.ca/2025/03/17/how-do-neutron-star-mergers-and-exploding-stars-create-the-elements/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/03/250318141357.htm