Abundance of live 244Pu in deep-sea reservoirs on Earth points to rarity of actinide nucleosynthesis

Half of the heavy elements including all actinides are produced in r-process nucleosynthesis, whose sites and history remain a mystery. If continuously produced, the Interstellar Medium is expected to build-up a quasi-steady state of abundances of short-lived nuclides (with half-lives <= 100 My), including actinides produced in r-process ...更多