Distorted supernovae can produce much heavier elements in the Universe Supernova ancestors.

Hypernova illustration

Massive magnetized stellar explosions (similar to the one pictured) could be the source of many of the heavier elements in the Universe. The powerful explosions of large, magnetized stars could form most of the heavy elements in the Universe, such as silver and uranium.

The elements of this r-process, which have half of all parts heavier than iron, are also created by the fusion of neutron stars. But the collisions of these dead stars alone cannot form all the elements of the r-process observed in the Universe. Scientists have now identified a type of energetic supernova called the magnetorotational Cyprusova as another possible birthplace for these elements.

 In analyzing the elemental composition of stars, which are like a star's genetic guide, astronomers look back at the history of the star family. The forty-four different elements observed in the star suggest that it formed from matter "left behind by a special explosion of massive stars shortly after the Big Bang," said Australian National University astronomer David Yong in Canberra.

Old stellar elements are not the fused remnants of neutron stars, Yong and his colleagues said. Some onerous elements, such as thorium and uranium, are higher than expected from neutron star fusion. Stars also contain lighter elements, such as zinc and nitrogen, which this fusion cannot produce. And because the lead is so deficient in iron - an element that accumulates in many stellar births and deaths - scientists believe that red giants are second-generation stars whose heavy elements come from supernova ancestors.

Simulations show that the event is a magnetorotatory hypernova created when a rapidly rotating, highly magnetic star with at least 25 times the mass of the Sun dies. When these stars explode as deceptive supernovae at the end of their lives, they can have the energetic, neutron-rich environment needed to forge heavy elements.

Magnetorrotational Cyprus Novae can be similar to a collapse - a massive spinning star that collapses into a black hole instead of exploding. Previously, the destroyer was also suggested as the birthplace of the r-process element.

The researchers estimate that magnet rotating hypernovae are rare, only 1 in 1,000 supernovae. However, such explosions would be ten times more frequent today than neutron star mergers. Moreover, they would produce the same heavy elements per event. 

Together with their less energetic counterparts called magnetorotational supernovae, these hypernovae could be responsible for generating 90% of all r-process elements, said co-author Chiaki Kobayashi, an astrophysicist at the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, England. In the early Universe, when fast-rotating massive stars were more common, such explosions could have had an even more significant effect.

The observations are particularly impressive, said Stan Wesley, an astrophysicist at the University of California at Santa Cruz who was not involved in the new study. But "there is no evidence that the abundance in this metal-deficient star made up for an event. It could be one. It could be 10. "One of those events could even be a neutron star fusion," he said.

Scientists hope to find more stars like mature red giants to show how common magnet rotating hypernovae are. So far, the newly studied star is "scarce and demonstrates the need for ... large-scale research to find such an object," Yong said.