Scientists Recreate the Universe’s First Molecules, Challenging Current Understanding of Star Formation

Kokcha News Agency – In a groundbreaking study published in the journal *Astronomy and Astrophysics*, scientists have successfully recreated the first molecules that formed in the early universe, challenging existing theories about the origins of stars.

The research focused on the helium hydride ion (HeH+), which is believed to be the first molecule to have formed after the Big Bang, approximately 13.8 billion years ago. This molecule played a crucial role in the formation of molecular hydrogen (H2), the most abundant molecule in the universe today.

**The Early Universe and the First Molecules:**
Immediately after the Big Bang, the universe was extremely hot. Within a few seconds, the temperature dropped enough to allow the formation of the first elements: hydrogen and helium. Hundreds of thousands of years later, the universe cooled further, enabling these atoms to combine with electrons in various configurations to form molecules.

The helium hydride ion (HeH+) is thought to have been the first molecule to form, serving as a precursor to molecular hydrogen. Molecular hydrogen, in turn, was essential for the formation of the first stars, as it allowed atoms and molecules to collide and release heat, initiating the fusion process that powers stars.

**Simulating Early Cosmic Conditions:**
To better understand this process, researchers cooled helium hydride ions to temperatures as low as -267 degrees Celsius (just 6 degrees above absolute zero) and then collided them with deuterium (a heavy isotope of hydrogen). These collisions, which mimic the conditions in protostars, were studied to see how temperature affected the reaction rates.

Contrary to previous theories, the researchers found that the reaction rates of helium hydride ions did not decrease at low temperatures. This discovery challenges the long-held belief that low temperatures would significantly slow down these reactions, suggesting that helium hydride ions played a much more important role in early star formation than previously thought.

**Implications for Star Formation:**
Holger Krekel, a nuclear physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Germany and co-author of the study, explained, “Previous theories predicted a significant decrease in reaction probability at low temperatures, but we could not confirm this either experimentally or with new theoretical calculations.”

Krekel added, “This discovery about the behavior of helium hydride ions challenges our current understanding of how stars formed in the early universe. It appears that these ions played a much more significant role in the chemistry of the early universe than previously thought.”