2012/06/30 by Fabio Iocco, Miguel Pato
Physics and Astronomy · #Accretion (finance) #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Black hole (networking) #COSMIC cancer database #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Isotope #Lithium (medication) #Neutron #Neutron star #Nuclear physics #Nucleosynthesis #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Spallation #Stars #Torus #astro-ph.CO #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.109.021102
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 021102 (2012)
openalex publication_date 2012/07/13 · arxiv created 2012/07/17 · arxiv updated 2012/07/19 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study the synthesis of lithium isotopes in the hot tori formed around stellar mass black holes by accretion of the companion star. We find that sizable amounts of both stable isotopes 6Li and 7Li can be produced, the exact figures varying with the characteristics of the torus and reaching as much as 10(-2) M⊙ for each isotope. This mass output is enough to contaminate the entire Galaxy at a level comparable with the original, pregalactic amount of lithium and to overcome other sources such as cosmic-ray spallation or stellar nucleosynthesis.