Editing Triple-alpha process (section)

== In neutron stars ==
Material that accretes from a companion star onto the surface of a [[Neutron stars|neutron star]] may begin this helium-burning process in a local region. The burning wave is estimated to travel at 50 to 500 km/s, traversing the surface in around one second. Within this second, the neutron star rapidly rotates, moving the brighter burning region in and out of view. This intensity modulation allows the rotational frequency to be measured, sometimes up to 300 Hz.

Some neutron stars have been measured with such an intensity modulation at 600 Hz. A suggested origin is neutron stars which rotate at 300 Hz, but have two burning regions. The second burning region is theorized to form almost immediately after the first, exactly on the opposite side of the neutron star, due to the convergence of gravitational wave from the initial thermonuclear ignition.<ref name="y734">{{cite journal |last=Simonenko |first=Vadim A. |date=2006 |title=Nuclear explosions as a probing tool for high-intensity processes and extreme states of matter: some applications of results |journal=Physics-Uspekhi |volume=49 |issue=8 |page=861 |doi=10.1070/PU2006v049n08ABEH006080 |issn=1063-7869}}</ref>