Media release from Paul Scherrer Institut, 8 April 2014
Processes in stars recreated with isotopes from PSI
To understand why chemical elements exist in certain amounts on Earth, processes that take place in exploding stars – supernovae – need to be studied. After all, much of the matter that makes up the earth was formed in a supernova billions of years ago and hurled into space by the explosion. Researchers looking to study the processes in a lab on Earth often face a problem: the substances, particular isotopes, which play a key role in the supernovae, do not exist on Earth and thus are not available for the experiments. One solution comes from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI): these isotopes are formed in sufficient amounts at the institute’s experimental facilities and can be used for studies. For instance, an international team of researchers used the titanium isotope Ti-44 to study an important process at CERN in Geneva. Read more >>
[Français] De la matière stellaire produite à l’Institut Paul Scherrer >>
[Deutsch] Sternmaterie aus dem Paul Scherrer Institut >>
Nota bene: Isotope production is also commonly used for medical imaging and radiotherapy. Further information is available in the section Health and Medicine.
