Last Updated: October 28, 2023, 06:24 IST
London, United Kingdom (UK)
Professor Vik Dhillon is from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy. He leads the ULTRACAM project.
Indian astrophysicist, Prof. Vik Dhillon, leads groundbreaking research, using ULTRACAM, pinpointing gamma-ray bursts and kilonovae for heavy element insights
Professor Vik Dhillon, an Indian-origin astrophysicist from the University of Sheffield in the UK, is part of a team that has brought humanity closer to understanding how the heaviest chemical elements are created in the universe using a high-end camera.
Dhillon, a key figure in the University’s Physics and Astronomy Department, and leader of the ULTRACAM project, notes that the camera is the first tool to precisely locate the gamma-ray burst, marking the initiation of the kilonova explosion. A kilonova, resulting from the fusion of two dense neutron stars, holds significance as it’s thought to be the source of the heaviest elements on the periodic table, including gold, platinum, and uranium found on Earth.
“Our camera ULTRACAM was the first instrument to pinpoint the location of the gamma-ray burst, the second brightest one ever observed, that indicated the start of the kilonova explosion,” Dhillon was quoted as saying by PTI. “This is only the second secure kilonova that has been found. Kilonovae are particularly important because it is where most of the heaviest elements in the periodic table are believed to be produced, including gold platinum and uranium, for example. This means we are now one step closer to understanding how the heaviest chemical elements are created in the universe,” he said.
The discovery allows scientists to trigger other telescopes around the world for follow-up observations, including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In the findings published in the ‘Nature’ journal this week, the scientists including those at the University of Sheffield observed the tell-tale red light from the kilonova, due to the absorption of blue light by the heavy elements produced in the explosion.
The presence of heavy elements was confirmed by observations with the JWST, which discovered tellurium in the infrared spectrum of the kilonova. Tellurium is next to iodine in the periodic table, implying significant quantities of iodine – essential for life on Earth – were also formed in the explosion.
Dr Stuart Littlefair, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy who was involved in the research, said: “The role ULTRACAM played was one of being in the right place at the right time. These objects fade away very quickly and it takes a sensitive camera mounted on a large telescope to detect the optical light from the merging compact objects.”
“ULTRACAM was able to find the faint optical counterpart and allow follow-up with other telescopes. In addition, ULTRACAM can take pictures in several wavelengths of light at once, and the colour was one of the first hints that this event was something special.” Scientists observed the merger of two neutron stars, resulting in the explosion known as a kilonova. These events are rare, fast and faint, making them very difficult to find – only one other confirmed kilonova has been observed before.
Professor Vik Dhillon’s work on kilonovae is important because the neutron-rich environments of their explosions are believed to be where the heaviest elements found in nature, such as gold, platinum and uranium, are formed. The Indian-origin scientist is well-known in the field of astrophysics.
He was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society Jackson-Gwilt Medal in 2013. From 2014-2019, he was an ERC Advanced Grant holder. His primary research interests are in the field of close binary stars, in which at least one stellar component is a white dwarf, neutron star or black hole. This work has led him and his collaborators to develop a series of high-speed cameras, ULTRACAM, ULTRASPEC and HiPERCAM, as well as a robotic telescope.
(With agency inputs)
