Gold, one of Earth’s most coveted elements, has long been thought to have arrived on our planet through the violent explosion of supernovae. These stellar deaths scatter heavy elements into space, enriching nearby planets and creating the raw materials for life. However, a new theory suggests another, more unexpected cosmic event might also be responsible for depositing gold on Earth—the starquakes of neutron stars, or magnetars.
Neutron stars are the remnants of massive stars that have exploded in supernovae. These dense objects pack the mass of a star into a space no larger than a city, creating gravitational forces and magnetic fields that defy comprehension. Some of these neutron stars, called magnetars, possess magnetic fields trillions of times stronger than Earth’s. Due to their extreme density, one teaspoon of a neutron star’s material would weigh about one billion tons on Earth.
These objects also experience violent disruptions, known as starquakes, which occur when their crust shifts and cracks. During these quakes, neutron stars emit bursts of X-rays and gamma rays, some of which are powerful enough to trigger the formation of heavy elements like gold, uranium, and iron.
In a groundbreaking study published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team of researchers, led by Anirudh Patel, proposed that the starquakes occurring within magnetars could be an overlooked source of Earth’s gold. The researchers examined data from a giant starquake in 2004, captured by the International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory, and found that the gamma rays produced during the quake matched predictions of how heavy elements are formed in magnetar eruptions.
The study posits that these intense bursts of energy from magnetars could account for up to 10% of the heavy elements found in the Milky Way, including gold. This theory shifts our understanding of gold’s origins from traditional supernovae to the even more extreme environments created by starquakes.
The implications of this research go beyond just understanding where gold comes from. It also highlights how interconnected the universe is. The gold that makes up everything from jewelry to the components in our smartphones could be traced back to cataclysmic events far more violent and far-reaching than we could ever have imagined. It’s fascinating to think that the next time you wear a gold ring or admire a gold watch, it might not just have been forged in the fires of a dying star, but also from the seismic tremors of the densest objects in the cosmos—magnetars whose violent quakes created the gold that would one day enrich our world.
