The results are surprising, the researchers say,
Stars produce carbon via the triple-alpha process, which requires three helium nuclei (otherwise known as alpha particles) to collide and fuse in a blindingly tiny fraction of a second. It’s such an unlikely process that astrophysicists have struggled to explain how carbon and the heavier elements beyond are so abundant in the Universe today …
“An increase in the carbon production rate like this would have a big impact on a lot of our models,” she explains. “It would affect our understanding of how stars change over time, how they produce elements heavier than carbon, how we measure the age of stars and how long they will last, how often we expect to see supernova explosions, even whether they leave behind neutron stars or black holes.”
Lauren Fuge, “Elements of surprise in new star study” at Cosmos Magazine
Paper. (pay wall) and Paper. (accepted but not yet published).
Carbon, as Michael Denton explains in Miracle of the Cell (2020), is central to life.
About 1/3 higher than previous estimates. Let’s wait for confirmation.