27–31 Jan 2025
Bormio, Italy
Europe/Berlin timezone

Were the heavy elements made in nature?

28 Jan 2025, 09:45
45m
Bormio, Italy

Bormio, Italy

Speaker

Ani Aprahamian (University of Notre Dame, USA)

Description

The periodic table of elements is now full up to the Z=118, element, Oganesson, the last element in the noble gas column of elements. The table contains elements that were in time identified by fission and by nuclear reactions. Some of them were deliberately created in the laboratory. While there is no limit to the table of elements ending with Z=118, the question remains about the potential that these elements could also be made in nature. The heavy elements are made by rapid neutron capture processes including neutron star mergers as one of the potential sites. Were the superheavy elements made in nature? I will talk about the possibilities.

Author

Ani Aprahamian (University of Notre Dame, USA)

Presentation materials