Nuclear Clues Map How Gold Emerges in Cosmic Cataclysms
UT nuclear physicists, with CERN ISOLDE data, report three key findings on the rapid neutron-capture (r-process) path that forges gold: (1) first measurement of neutron energies in beta-delayed two-neutron emission, (2) the long-predicted single-particle neutron state in tin-133, and (3) a non-statistical population of that state. Together, these results refine models of heavy-element formation during extreme stellar events and imply the need for new theoretical approaches for exotic nuclei.