Editing Nuclear fusion (section)

== In astrophysics ==
Fusion is responsible for the astrophysical production of the majority of elements lighter than iron. This includes most types of [[Big Bang nucleosynthesis]] and [[stellar nucleosynthesis]]. Non-fusion processes that contribute include the [[s-process]] and [[r-process]] in neutron merger and [[supernova nucleosynthesis]], responsible for elements heavier than iron.

=== Stars ===
{{Main article|Stellar nucleosynthesis}}
[[File:Fusion in the Sun.svg|thumb|250px|right|The [[proton–proton chain]] reaction, branch&nbsp;I, dominates in stars the size of the Sun or smaller.]]
[[File:CNO Cycle.svg|thumb|250px|right|The [[CNO cycle]] dominates in stars heavier than the Sun.]]

An important fusion process is the [[stellar nucleosynthesis]] that powers [[star]]s, including the Sun. In the 20th century, it was recognized that the energy released from nuclear fusion reactions accounts for the longevity of stellar heat and light. The fusion of nuclei in a star, starting from its initial hydrogen and helium abundance, provides that energy and synthesizes new nuclei. Different reaction chains are involved, depending on the mass of the star (and therefore the pressure and temperature in its core).

Around 1920, [[Arthur Eddington]] anticipated the discovery and mechanism of nuclear fusion processes in stars, in his paper ''The Internal Constitution of the Stars''.<ref name=eddington>{{cite journal |title=The Internal Constitution of the Stars |first=A. S. |last=Eddington |journal=The Scientific Monthly |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=297–303 |date=October 1920 |doi=10.1126/science.52.1341.233 |jstor=6491 |pmid=17747682 |bibcode=1920Sci....52..233E |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429642 |access-date=25 March 2020 |archive-date=17 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220717115105/https://zenodo.org/record/1429642 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=eddington2>{{cite journal|bibcode=1916MNRAS..77...16E|title=On the radiative equilibrium of the stars|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society|volume=77|pages=16–35|last1=Eddington|first1=A. S.|year=1916|doi=10.1093/mnras/77.1.16|doi-access=free}}</ref> At that time, the source of stellar energy was unknown; Eddington correctly speculated that the source was fusion of hydrogen into helium, liberating enormous energy according to [[Mass–energy equivalence|Einstein's equation]] {{math|''E'' {{=}} ''mc''<sup>2</sup>}}. This was a particularly remarkable development since at that time fusion and thermonuclear energy had not yet been discovered, nor even that stars are largely composed of [[hydrogen]] (see [[metallicity]]). Eddington's paper reasoned that:
# The leading theory of stellar energy, the contraction hypothesis, should cause the rotation of a star to visibly speed up due to [[conservation of angular momentum]]. But observations of [[Cepheid]] variable stars showed this was not happening.
# The only other known plausible source of energy was conversion of matter to energy; Einstein had shown some years earlier that a small amount of matter was equivalent to a large amount of energy. 
# [[Francis William Aston|Francis Aston]] had also recently shown that the mass of a helium atom was about 0.8% less than the mass of the four hydrogen atoms which would, combined, form a helium atom (according to the then-prevailing theory of atomic structure which held atomic weight to be the distinguishing property between elements; work by [[Henry Moseley]] and [[Antonius van den Broek]] would later show that nucleic charge was the distinguishing property and that a helium nucleus, therefore, consisted of two hydrogen nuclei plus additional mass). This suggested that if such a combination could happen, it would release considerable energy as a byproduct.
# If a star contained just 5% of fusible hydrogen, it would suffice to explain how stars got their energy. (It is now known that most 'ordinary' stars are usually made of around 70% to 75% hydrogen)
# Further elements might also be fused, and other scientists had speculated that stars were the "crucible" in which light elements combined to create heavy elements, but without more accurate measurements of their [[atomic mass]]es nothing more could be said at the time.

All of these speculations were proven correct in the following decades.

The primary source of solar energy, and that of similar size stars, is the fusion of hydrogen to form helium (the [[proton–proton chain]] reaction), which occurs at a solar-core temperature of 14&nbsp;million kelvin. The net result is the fusion of four [[Proton|protons]] into one [[alpha particle]], with the release of two [[Positron|positrons]] and two [[Neutrino|neutrinos]] (which changes two of the protons into neutrons), and energy. In heavier stars, the [[CNO cycle]] and other processes are more important. As a star uses up a substantial fraction of its hydrogen, it begins to fuse heavier elements. In massive cores, [[Silicon-burning process|silicon-burning]] is the final fusion cycle, leading to a build-up of iron and nickel nuclei.

[[Nuclear binding energy]] makes the production of elements heavier than nickel via fusion energetically unfavorable. These elements are produced in non-fusion processes: the [[s-process]], [[r-process]], and the variety of processes that can produce [[p-nuclei]]. Such processes occur in giant star shells, or [[supernovae]], or [[Neutron star merger|neutron star mergers]].

=== Brown dwarfs ===
[[Brown dwarfs]] fuse deuterium and in very high mass cases also fuse lithium.

=== White dwarfs ===
Carbon–oxygen [[white dwarfs]], which accrete matter either from an active stellar companion or white dwarf merger, approach the [[Chandrasekhar limit]] of 1.44 solar masses. Immediately prior, [[Carbon fusion|carbon burning]] fusion begins, destroying the Earth-sized dwarf within one second, in a [[Type Ia supernova]].

Much more rarely, helium white dwarfs may merge, which does not cause an explosion but begins [[helium burning]] in an extreme type of [[helium star]].

=== Neutron stars ===
{{See also|Triple-alpha process#In neutron stars}}

Some neutron stars accrete hydrogen and helium from an active stellar companion. Periodically, the helium accretion reaches a critical level, and a thermonuclear burn wave propagates across the surface, on the timescale of one second.<ref name="y734">{{cite journal |last=Simonenko |first=Vadim A. |date=2006 |title=Nuclear explosions as a probing tool for high-intensity processes and extreme states of matter: some applications of results |journal=Physics-Uspekhi |volume=49 |issue=8 |page=861 |doi=10.1070/PU2006v049n08ABEH006080 |issn=1063-7869}}</ref>

=== Black hole accretion disks ===
Similar to stellar fusion, extreme conditions within [[black hole]] [[accretion disks]] can allow fusion reactions. Calculations show the most energetic reactions occur around lower [[Stellar black hole|stellar mass black holes]], below 10 solar masses, compared to those above 100. Beyond five [[Schwarzschild radius|Schwarzschild radii]], [[Carbon-burning process|carbon-burning]] and fusion of helium-3 dominates the reactions. Within this distance, around lower mass black holes, fusion of nitrogen, [[Oxygen-burning process|oxygen]], [[Neon-burning process|neon]], and magnesium can occur. In the extreme limit, the [[silicon-burning process]] can begin with the fusion of silicon and selenium nuclei.<ref name="b407">{{cite journal |last1=Tang |first1=Zifan |last2=Luo |first2=Yang |last3=Wang |first3=Jian-Min |date=2024-11-26 |title=Nuclear burning in an accretion flow around a stellar-mass black hole embedded within an AGN disc |journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=535 |issue=4 |pages=3050–3058 |doi=10.1093/mnras/stae2557 |issn=0035-8711 |doi-access=free|arxiv=2411.07531 }}</ref>

=== Big Bang ===
{{Main article|Big Bang nucleosynthesis}}
From the period approximately 10 seconds to 20 minutes after the [[Big Bang]], the universe cooled from over 100 keV to 1 keV. This allowed the combination of protons and neutrons in deuterium nuclei, and beginning a rapid fusion chain into tritium and helium-3 and ending in predominantly helium-4, with a minimal fraction of lithium, beryllium, and boron nuclei.