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Astronomy

The cosmic origin of deuterium

Nature volume 405, pages 1009–1010 (2000)Cite this article

Most of the deuterium in the Universe was thought to be created during the first three minutes after the Big Bang, along with other light elements such as hydrogen, helium and lithium. All the elements heavier than carbon were subsequently synthesized inside stars. Stars burn up primordial deuterium to form heavier elements, a process known as astration. The fact that deuterium is only ever destroyed and not created by stars makes this element a good indicator of past star formation. So, regions where there has been a high rate of stellar activity should be depleted in deuterium, unless they are resupplied with primordial gas (that is, gas with a chemical composition unchanged since the Big Bang).

On page 1025of this issue, Lubowich et al.1 report the discovery of deuterium near the centre of our Galaxy. Their measurement of deuterium (more specifically the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen, D/H) in a molecular cloud near the Galactic Centre provides crucial information about the amount of astration that has occurred over the lifetime of our Galaxy and consequently about the primordial abundance of deuterium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Astronomy Osservatorio Astronomico, Universita Degli Studi di Trieste, via G. B. Tiepolo 11, Trieste, 34131, Italy

    Francesca Matteucci

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  1. Francesca Matteucci
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Correspondence to Francesca Matteucci.

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Matteucci, F. The cosmic origin of deuterium. Nature 405, 1009–1010 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35016682

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