Heavy-element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST

Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F67985815%3A_____%2F24%3A00598929" target="_blank" >RIV/67985815:_____/24:00598929 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0356496" target="_blank" >https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0356496</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06759-1" target="_blank" >10.1038/s41586-023-06759-1</a>

Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Heavy-element production in a compact object merger observed by JWST
Original language description
The mergers of binary compact objects such as neutron stars and black holes are of central interest to several areas of astrophysics, including as the progenitors of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)1, sources of high-frequency gravitational waves (GWs)2 and likely production sites for heavy-element nucleosynthesis by means of rapid neutron capture (the r-process)3. Here we present observations of the exceptionally bright GRB 230307A. We show that GRB 230307A belongs to the class of long-duration GRBs associated with compact object mergers4–6 and contains a kilonova similar to AT2017gfo, associated with the GW merger GW170817 (refs. 7–12). We obtained James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy 29 and 61 days after the burst. The spectroscopy shows an emission line at 2.15 microns, which we interpret as tellurium (atomic mass A = 130) and a very red source, emitting most of its light in the mid-infrared owing to the production of lanthanides. These observations demonstrate that nucleosynthesis in GRBs can create r-process elements across a broad atomic mass range and play a central role in heavy-element nucleosynthesis across the Universe.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10308 - Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science)

Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year
2024
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

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