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Astrophysics

The process of carbon creation

Nature volume 433, pages 117–119 (2005)Cite this article

In the Universe, the element carbon is created only in stars, in a remarkable reaction called the triple-α process. Fresh insights into the reaction now come from the latest experiments carried out on Earth.

The starting point for the relevant reactions is helium, 4He, the nucleus of which is known as the α-particle. In 1952, Edwin Salpeter2,3 suggested that the nuclear fusion process leading to the synthesis of 12C is a two-step process, with two α-particles combining to form a minuscule amount of an unstable form of the element beryllium (8Be). Although the lifetime of 8Be is only about 10−16 seconds, the close proximity of atomic nuclei inside the dense matter of a star in principle allows the capture of a third α-particle to form 12C. Hence the term ‘triple-α’ for the presumed process of carbon formation. But the probability of this occurring seemed too low to explain the abundance of carbon in the Universe.

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Figure 1: Carbon factories.

T. CREDNER & S. KOHLE/OBS.BONN

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  1. Department of Physics, American University of Beirut, Bliss Street, Beirut, Lebanon

    Mounib El Eid

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  1. Mounib El Eid
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Eid, M. The process of carbon creation. Nature 433, 117–119 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/433117a

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