Latest news with #heliumhydride
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Experiment Recreates The Universe's Very First Chemical Reactions
The first chemical reactions in the wake of the Big Bang have been recreated for the first time in conditions similar to those in the baby Universe. A team of physicists Led by Florian Grussie of the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Germany has reproduced the reactions of helium hydride ion (HeH+), a molecule made from a neutral helium atom fusing with an ionized atom of hydrogen. These are the first steps that lead to the formation of molecular hydrogen (H2); the most abundant molecule in the Universe and the stuff from which stars are born. The new work, therefore, elucidates some of the earliest processes that gave rise to the Universe as we know it today. Related: The First Molecular Bond in The Universe Has Finally Been Detected in Space The birth throes of the Universe some 13.8 billion years ago produced a hot, dense soup of fundamental particles simmering at temperatures too high for atoms to form. It took about 380,000 years for nuclei and electrons to lose enough energy to congeal into the very first elements. Those elements were the lightest the periodic table has to offer; about 75 percent hydrogen, 25 percent helium, and trace amounts of lithium. Hydrogen continues to dominate the Universe's ingredient list today, as clouds of molecular gas that give birth to the stellar furnaces from which the heavier elements are born, either through fusion or violent explosions. None of that, however, could happen without HeH+ – a molecule that scientists believe played a huge role in cooling the Universe enough so that the molecular clouds could contract enough to attain the density required to collapse under their own gravity to form the seeds of baby stars. That's because HeH+ has a comparatively large separation between its positive and negative charges. In the presence of an electric field, a molecule with a large charge separation undergoes an energy shift that helps dissipate heat, which means HeH+ theoretically played a key role in paving the way for the formation of the first stars. The researchers performed their experiments at the Max Planck Institute's Cryogenic Storage Ring, a facility designed to perform experiments in a vacuum environment at temperatures just a few degrees above absolute zero, around -267 degrees Celsius (-449 Fahrenheit), mimicking the conditions of deep space. There, they carefully studied interactions between HeH+ and a hydrogen atom with one extra neutron in its nucleus, known as deuterium. An interaction between HeH+ and deuterium generates a neutral helium atom and a molecule consisting of one neutral hydrogen atom and one charged deuterium atom (HD+), with lower energy levels than the original components. Within the storage ring, the researchers fired two beams of particles; one with HeH+ molecules, the other with neutral deuterium. They changed the speed of the two beams to alter the energy at which the particles collided as a proxy for temperature to see if temperature played a role in the reaction rate. It did not. The rate at which the reaction took place remained steady, regardless of the proxy temperature – suggesting that the role HeH+ played in the early Universe did not decline as cooling unfolded, and that its role in the formation of the first generation of stars was a significant one. "Previous theories predicted a significant decrease in the reaction probability at low temperatures, but we were unable to verify this in either the experiment or new theoretical calculations by our colleagues," physicist Holger Kreckel from the MPIK explains. "The reactions of HeH+ with neutral hydrogen and deuterium therefore appear to have been far more important for chemistry in the early Universe than previously assumed." The research has been published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Related News Scientists Just Admitted Nobody Really Gets Quantum Physics First Quantum Bit Made of Antimatter Captured in Physics Breakthrough Gold Does Something Unexpected When Superheated Past Its Melting Point Solve the daily Crossword
Gizmodo
04-08-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Scientists Recreated the Universe's First Molecule
Seconds after the Big Bang, the newborn universe gave rise to the first elements—ionized forms of hydrogen and helium. These particles combined, forging helium hydride—the first ever molecule. It would take another several hundred million years for the first stars to be born, and scientists have long puzzled over the exact nature of the chemical processes that led to their formation. To try and tease apart the stellar origin story, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany recreated helium hydride in the lab. They found that it likely played a much larger role in star birth than they had previously thought, helping primordial gas clouds shed enough heat to collapse into stars. In the study, the researchers recreated collisions between helium hydride and deuterium in what they believe to be a first-of-its-kind experiment, according to a press release. Their findings, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics on July 24, indicate that the rate of the reaction remains constant as the temperature drops, contradicting earlier work. 'Previous theories predicted a significant decrease in the reaction probability at low temperatures, but we were unable to verify this in either the experiment or new theoretical calculations by our colleagues,' Holger Kreckel, who is a researcher at Max Planck and the lead author on the study, said in a statement. 'The reactions of [helium hydride] with neutral hydrogen and deuterium therefore appear to have been far more important for chemistry in the early universe than previously assumed,' he added. Two helium hydride reactions produce molecular hydrogen, and likely aided star formation in the early universe. In the first—replicated in the study—deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen that contains a neutron in addition to a proton, collides with helium hydride to yield hydrogen deuteride, a form of molecular hydrogen composed of a hydrogen atom and a deuterium atom. The other reaction occurs when helium hydride collides with a neutral hydrogen atom, producing neutral molecular hydrogen. Both forms of molecular hydrogen act as coolants, helping nebulae lose heat, condense, and ultimately collapse into stars. The researchers used Max Planck's Cryogenic Storage Ring to carry out their experiment. This low-temperature reaction chamber allows scientists to study molecular and atomic reactions in space-like conditions. The team stored helium hydride ions inside the chamber for up to a minute at roughly -450 degrees Fahrenheit (-267 degrees Celsius), then superimposed them with a beam of neutral deuterium atoms. To observe how the collision rate varies with collision energy—directly related to temperature—they adjusted the relative speeds of the two particle beams. Scientists previously believed rate of reactions would slow down as temperature dropped, but the results of this experiment suggest otherwise. The researchers found that the rate remained almost constant despite decreasing temperatures. This surprising result suggests that helium hydride remains chemically active even in cold conditions, a finding that the scientists argue in their paper should prompt a reevaluation of helium chemistry in the early universe.
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists recreate universe's first molecule to crack 13-billion-year-old mystery
Scientists have recreated the first molecule ever to form and found that it likely played a much bigger role in the birth of early stars than previously thought. The universe was unimaginably hot and dense immediately after it formed about 13.8 billion years ago, and cooled down seconds later to form the first elements, hydrogen and helium, albeit in a completely ionised form. It then took another 380,000 years for the temperature in the early universe to drop enough for neutral atoms to form by combining with free electrons to pave the way for the first chemical reactions. The first molecule created this way is thought to be helium hydride ion (HeH+), formed from a neutral helium atom and ionised hydrogen. Helium hydride's origin also marked the beginning of a chain reaction that led to the formation of molecular hydrogen (H2), which is by far the most common molecule in the universe, scientists say. Although the infant universe at this point was transparent due to the binding of free electrons, there were still no light-emitting objects, such as stars. Researchers found that this ancient helium hydride molecule helped cool the universe over a process lasting several hundred million years before the first stars ignited. Stars are powered by nuclear fusion in which light atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing a tremendous amount of energy. However, for any early contracting gas cloud of a protostar to collapse to the point where nuclear fusion can begin, heat must be dissipated via collisions between atoms and molecules, which then emit this energy in the form of photons. But below 10,000C, this process becomes ineffective for the dominant hydrogen atoms. So researchers have long considered helium hydride ions as a potentially important candidate for cooling in the formation of the first stars. These ancient molecules could facilitate further cooling by emitting additional energy through rotation and vibration, particularly at low temperatures. The concentration of helium hydride ions in the universe was likely key to the effectiveness of early star formation, the study found. New research, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, used a special ultra-cold lab setup to mimic conditions from over 13 billion years ago that led to the formation of these molecules. The study recreated conditions similar to those in the early universe for the first time at the Cryogenic Storage Ring (CSR) instrument at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik – a globally unique lab set up for investigating molecular and atomic reactions under space-like conditions. In the research, scientists superimposed HeH⁺ ions stored in a 35-metre-diameter storage ring for up to just a minute at a few kelvins (-267C) with a beam of neutral hydrogen atoms. They studied how the collision rate varied with temperature and found that, contrary to earlier predictions, the rate at which this reaction proceeds does not slow down with decreasing temperature. 'Previous theories predicted a significant decrease in the reaction probability at low temperatures, but we were unable to verify this in either the experiment or new theoretical calculations by our colleagues,' said study co-author Holger Kreckel from the MPIK. The findings suggest the reactions of HeH⁺ with hydrogen were far more important for chemistry in the early universe than previously thought.
The Independent
04-08-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Scientists recreate universe's first molecule to crack 13-billion-year-old mystery
Scientists have recreated the first molecule ever to form and found that it likely played a much bigger role in the birth of early stars than previously thought. The universe was unimaginably hot and dense immediately after it formed about 13.8 billion years ago, and cooled down seconds later to form the first elements, hydrogen and helium, albeit in a completely ionised form. It then took another 380,000 years for the temperature in the early universe to drop enough for neutral atoms to form by combining with free electrons to pave the way for the first chemical reactions. The first molecule created this way is thought to be helium hydride ion (HeH+), formed from a neutral helium atom and ionised hydrogen. Helium hydride's origin also marked the beginning of a chain reaction that led to the formation of molecular hydrogen (H2), which is by far the most common molecule in the universe, scientists say. Although the infant universe at this point was transparent due to the binding of free electrons, there were still no light-emitting objects, such as stars. Researchers found that this ancient helium hydride molecule helped cool the universe over a process lasting several hundred million years before the first stars ignited. Stars are powered by nuclear fusion in which light atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing a tremendous amount of energy. However, for any early contracting gas cloud of a protostar to collapse to the point where nuclear fusion can begin, heat must be dissipated via collisions between atoms and molecules, which then emit this energy in the form of photons. But below 10,000C, this process becomes ineffective for the dominant hydrogen atoms. So researchers have long considered helium hydride ions as a potentially important candidate for cooling in the formation of the first stars. These ancient molecules could facilitate further cooling by emitting additional energy through rotation and vibration, particularly at low temperatures. The concentration of helium hydride ions in the universe was likely key to the effectiveness of early star formation, the study found. New research, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, used a special ultra-cold lab setup to mimic conditions from over 13 billion years ago that led to the formation of these molecules. The study recreated conditions similar to those in the early universe for the first time at the Cryogenic Storage Ring (CSR) instrument at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik – a globally unique lab set up for investigating molecular and atomic reactions under space-like conditions. In the research, scientists superimposed HeH⁺ ions stored in a 35-metre-diameter storage ring for up to just a minute at a few kelvins (-267C) with a beam of neutral hydrogen atoms. They studied how the collision rate varied with temperature and found that, contrary to earlier predictions, the rate at which this reaction proceeds does not slow down with decreasing temperature. 'Previous theories predicted a significant decrease in the reaction probability at low temperatures, but we were unable to verify this in either the experiment or new theoretical calculations by our colleagues,' said study co-author Holger Kreckel from the MPIK. The findings suggest the reactions of HeH⁺ with hydrogen were far more important for chemistry in the early universe than previously thought.
