Portada de la última Revista Española de Física

The Spanish Journal of Physics (Revista Española de Física in Spanish), published by the Royal Spanish Physics Society, has featured on the cover of its latest issue an image from an international study co-led by ICMM-CSIC. The research demonstrates the key role of hydrogen in the formation of cosmic dust from red giants—low‑ or intermediate‑mass stars at the end of their lives—and has significant astrophysical implications. The results were obtained using the STARDUST machine, a unique facility designed to produce cosmic dust analogs under controlled conditions.

Titled "Formation of Cosmic Silicon Carbide Dust," the quarterly journal highlights this discovery in its 40th issue. The study, led at the ICMM by José Ángel Martín Gago, researcher and director of the institute, was published in Nature Astronomy.

Using the STARDUST setup—engineered to replicate the atmospheric conditions of red giants—the team reproduced in the laboratory some of the chemical environments found in the inner layers of carbon‑rich circumstellar envelopes. The most significant result was the demonstration that hydrogen acts as a promoter in the formation of silicon carbide grains. The study shows that when molecular hydrogen density is high, carbon and silicon interact far more efficiently than in hydrogen‑poor environments, as hydrogen triggers a chain of chemical reactions. The findings have major implications for astrophysics.

The research was led jointly by the ICMM‑CSIC and the Institute of Materials Structure (IEM‑CSIC), with additional participation from several CSIC centers: the Institute of Nanoscience and Materials of Aragón, the Institute of Polymer Science and Technology, and the Institute of Fundamental Physics, as well as France’s IRAP‑CNRS and the University of Toulouse.

Reference:

Guillermo Tajuelo-Castilla, Gonzalo Santoro*, Lidia Martínez, Pablo Merino, José Ignacio Martínez, Pedro L. de Andres, Gary J. Ellis, Álvaro Mayoral, Ramón J. Peláez, Isabel Tanarro, Marcelino Agúndez, Sandra Wiersma, Hassan Sabbah, José Cernicharo*, Christine Joblin* & José Ángel Martín-Gago*. The Important Role of Hydrogen in the Formation of Silicon Carbide in Evolved Stars. Nature Astronomy. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-026-02854-1 

Friday, July 3, 2026 - 13:04