A forty-year-old puzzle regarding the production of lithium in stars has been solved by Indian researchers.
Background:
Stars, as per known mechanisms of evolution, actually destroy lithium as they evolve into red giants. Planets were known to have more lithium than their stars — as is the case with the Earth-Sun pair.
However, leading to a contradiction, some stars were found that were lithium-rich.
Recent research:
This is the first study to demonstrate that lithium abundance enhancement among low mass giant stars is common. Until now, it was believed that only about 1% of giants are lithium rich.
The recent study shows that, when stars grow beyond their Red Giant stage into what is known as the Red Clump stage, they produce lithium in what is known as a helium flash and this is what enriches them with lithium.
Lastly, they set a lower limit for helium abundance which will classify the star as “lithium-rich”. This value is about 250 times lower than the previous limit.
The study challenges the present understanding of nucleosynthesis in stars.
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