<ul><li>Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory propose a model explaining the creation of heavy elements in collapsing stars.</li><li>The model suggests that energetic photons from newly forming black holes or neutron stars transmute protons into neutrons in ejected stellar material.</li><li>This provides ideal conditions for the rapid neutron-capture process to occur, leading to the formation of heavy elements.</li><li>The proposed model could also help explain astrophysical phenomena such as kilonova explosions and the chemical makeup of deep-sea deposits on Earth.</li></ul>

Photon collisions in dying stars could create neutrons for heavy elements

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