Implications of Neutron Star Mergers for Extraterrestrial Civilizations

2018/03/13 by Abraham Loeb, Loeb, Abraham
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph) #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #astro-ph.GA #physics.pop-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1803.04919

3 pages, no figures, published in Scientific American

arxiv created 2018/03/13 · openalex publication_date 2018/03/13 · arxiv updated 2018/03/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

The economy and fate of extraterrestrial civilizations should depend on the abundance of gold and uranium, made in neutron star mergers.

Citations

• Impact and mitigation strategy for future solar flares
• Origin of the heavy elements in binary neutron-star mergers from a gravitational-wave event

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