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| Paper: |
The Heavy Element Enrichment History of the Universe |
| Monograph: |
10, HWO25 Proceedings Part I: Community Science Case Development Documents |
| Page: |
31 |
| Authors: |
Eric Burns; Jennifer Andrews |
| DOI: |
10.26624/NSRH2306 |
| Abstract: |
Understanding where elements were formed has been a key goal in astrophysics for nearly a century, with
answers involving cosmology, stellar burning, and cosmic explosions. Since 1957, the origin of the heaviest
elements (formed via the rapid neutron capture process; r-process) has remained a mystery, identified as a key
question to answer this century by the US National Research Council. With the advent of gravitational wave
astronomy and recent measurements by the James Webb Space Telescope we now know that neutron star
mergers are a key site of heavy element nucleosynthesis. We must now understand the heavy element yield of
these events as well as mapping when these mergers occurred back through cosmic time, currently thought
to peak when the universe was half its current age. This requires an extremely sensitive ultraviolet, optical,
and infrared telescope which can respond rapidly to external discoveries of neutron star mergers. We here
describe how the Habitable Worlds Observatory can provide the first complete answer to one of the questions
of the century.
This article is an adaptation of a science case document developed for the Habitable Worlds
Observatory. |
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