English

Coalescing Neutron Stars: A Solution to the R-Process Problem?

Astrophysics 2016-08-30 v2

Abstract

Recent calculations place questions on the ability of supernovae to produce r-process nuclei in the correct amounts. We present results from 3D Newtonian SPH calculations of mergers of equal mass neutron star binaries. We find the amounts of ejected mass to be very promising for an explanation of the observed r-process abundances. Preliminary abundance calculations show that practically all the material is subject to r-process conditions. The calculated abundance patterns reproduce the basic features of the solar r-process abundances very well. Especially the peak around A= 195 is easily reproduced without any tuning of the initial entropies. Thus, eventually all the observed r-process material could be explained by mass ejection during neutron star mergers.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9804332,
  title  = {Coalescing Neutron Stars: A Solution to the R-Process Problem?},
  author = {S. Rosswog and F. -K. Thielemann and M. B. Davies and W. Benz and T. Piran},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9804332},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

4 pages, 2 figures, Proceedings Ringberg98; references added

R2 v1 2026-07-22T09:39:44.503Z