Physicists at Syracuse University are among a global team of scientists to detect the collision of neutron stars that explains the presence of heavy metals in the universe. The university announced the scientific breakthrough at an event this morning. Charles Brightman Endowed Professor of Physics Duncan Brown says observational data from this detection has provided evidence that elements are created in the collision of these stars.
"When they collide into each other, we’ve seen gold, platinum, the heavy elements that make up the top end of the periodic table, elements essential to life. We’ve seen the creation of those elements in the universe, and we have a fundamental piece of our knowledge of the universe, another piece of that jigsaw puzzle that’s been put into place."
Brown leads the Syracuse team along with Physicists Stefan Ballmer and Peter Saulson. They work with institutions around the world on the detection of gravitational waves through LIGO- the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Ballmer says the discovery was especially rewarding because it resulted from over sixty years of gravitational wave research at SU.
"This is tremendously gratifying. Lots of us have worked on this over many, many decades, pushing this precision measurement to a point where we’ve just never been before. The fact that we can now literally listen to stars orbiting around each other, for me, is just one of the greatest things."
The discovery resulted from the simultaneous use of wave detectors. When possible sound of the collision was recorded, the Syracuse team was among the first alerted. They then determined an approximate location, and telescopes from around the world and in space were then able to spot where the collision occurred.
"My jaw just dropped. I was completely in shock. I didn’t think we were gonna see this for another maybe five years or so."
This is the second major discovery the Syracuse team has been a part of. In February 2016, Syracuse announced the team’s contributions to the first detection of gravitational waves proving Einstein’s prediction accurate. The physicists say this discovery is just the beginning of much more work and learning.