A multinational research team has recently uncovered the origins of the extremely rare “cosmic bombs”: Type Ic supernovae.
Led by astronomers Martín Solar and Michał Michałowski from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poland, the study discovered that the progenitors of Type Ic supernovae—the universe’s primary metal forges—are not solitary monsters.
According to Science Alert, one of the greatest mysteries of the universe is the true origin of all metals.
They did not exist immediately after the Big Bang. At that time, the universe was monotonous, composed only of the lightest elements like hydrogen and helium.
A supernova explosion enriches the chemical elements of the universe – (Image: ESO/SCITECH DAILY).
The cores of stars are the forges of the universe, where simple elements are forged into heavier ones under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure.
When a star dies, it explodes into a supernova, releasing a belly full of heavier metals than those that created it back into the universe, providing raw materials for subsequent generations of stars to forge even heavier elements.
Among these, Type Ic supernovae are the explosions from one of the universe’s most advanced forges.
They are caused by the core collapse of massive stars that have reached the end of their life cycle, with all the hydrogen in the star’s core having fused into heavier elements.
At this point, the star has reached a stage where its core elements are so heavy that the subsequent fusion processes require more energy than what previous fusions have released.
This sudden lack of energy causes the external pressure to drop significantly, leading the stellar core to experience immense gravitational forces and collapse into an extremely dense neutron star or black hole.
Meanwhile, the outer part of the star will explode into space but will still contain hydrogen and helium—the basic elements that every star must have.
However, Type Ic supernovae have puzzled scientists for years because they explode with a noticeable absence of hydrogen and helium.
Now, scientists have discovered that this type of supernova can be created by something so powerful that during the ejection of material, heavier metals continue to be forged, blowing away all hydrogen and helium.
Two plausible scenarios have been proposed:
- The first scenario involves a star with a mass approximately 20-30 times that of the Sun, large enough to create stellar winds strong enough to blow away hydrogen and helium.
- The second scenario is the presence of a companion binary star, meaning the Type Ic supernova is a pair of exploding stars, including one massive star and a smaller one with a mass of 8-15 times that of the Sun.
Researchers examined the remaining molecular gas left by Type Ic supernovae and compared it with the residual molecular gas from Type II supernovae—originating from stars with 8-15 times the mass of the Sun.
The results indicate that the second scenario is plausible.
This discovery provides a crucial piece in understanding cosmology. Without these “monsters” aiding the rapid chemical evolution of the universe, Earth could not have formed 4.54 billion years ago with such a rich composition.
