Related papers: Cold r-Process in Neutrino-Driven Winds
Observations of metal-poor stars indicate that at least two different nucleosynthesis sites contribute to the production of r-process elements. One site is responsible for the production of light r-process elements Z<~50 while the other…
During the merger of a black hole and a neutron star, baryonic mass can become unbound from the system. Because the ejected material is extremely neutron-rich, the r-process rapidly synthesizes heavy nuclides as the material expands and…
We follow the longterm evolution of the dynamic ejecta of neutron star mergers for up to 100 years and over a density range of roughly 40 orders of magnitude. We include the nuclear energy input from the freshly synthesized, radioactively…
One of the outstanding unsolved riddles of nuclear astrophysics is the origin of the so called ``p-process'' nuclei from A = 92 to 126. Both the lighter and heavier p-process nuclei are adequately produced in the neon and oxygen shells of…
Theoretical studies of the nucleosynthesis origin of the heavy elements in our Solar System (S.S.) by the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) still face the entwined uncertainties in the possible astrophysical scenarios and the…
In order to explore the consequences of the neutrino irradiation for the supernova r-process nucleosynthesis, we calculate the rates of charged-current and neutral-current neutrino reactions on neutron-rich heavy nuclei, and estimate the…
Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. These observations provide insight into the nature of the earliest generations of stars in the…
We discuss general relativistic effects in the steady-state neutrino-driven ``wind'' which may arise from nascent neutron stars. In particular, we generalize previous analytic estimates of the entropy per baryon $S$, the mass outflow rate…
We argue that significant probability of protons with momenta above their Fermi surface leads for proton concentrations p/n > 1/8 to the enhancement of termally excited direct and modified URCA processes within a cold neutron star, and to a…
Cooling of neutron stars (NSs) with the cores composed of neutrons, protons, and electrons is simulated assuming $^1$S$_0$ pairing of neutrons in the NS crust, and also $^1$S$_0$ pairing of protons and weak $^3$P$_2$ pairing of neutrons in…
Recent studies suggest that binary neutron star (NS-NS) mergers robustly produce the heavy r-process nuclei above the atomic mass number A ~ 130 because of their ejecta consisting of almost pure neutrons (electron fraction of Y_e < 0.1).…
The neutrino-driven wind, which occurs after the onset of a core-collapse supernova explosion, has long been considered as the possible site for the synthesis of heavy r-process elements in the Universe. Only recently, it has been possible…
Recent observations of heavy elements produced by rapid neutron capture (r-process) in the halo have shown a striking and unexpected behavior: within a single star, the relative abundances of r-process elements heavier than Eu are the same…
I compare seven actively studied r-process nucleosynthesis scenarios against observed properties of r-process elements in the early Universe, and conclude that the most likely scenario to contribute to the site of elements below the third…
Young, fast-rotating neutron stars are promising candidate sources for the production of ultrahigh energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The interest in this model has recently been boosted by the latest chemical composition measurements of cosmic…
The recent detection of a binary neutron star merger and the clear evidence for the decay of radioactive material observed in this event have, after sixty years of effort, provided an astrophysical site for the rapid neutron-capture ($r$-)…
This review demonstrates that neutrino emission from dense hadronic component in neutron stars is subject of strong modifications due to collective effects in the nuclear matter. With the most important in-medium processes incorporated in…
We investigate beta-interactions of free nucleons and their impact on the electron fraction (Y_e) and r-process nucleosynthesis in ejecta characteristic of binary neutron star mergers (BNSMs). For that we employ trajectories from a…
The abundance of about half of the stable nuclei heavier than iron via the rapid neutron capture process or $r$-process is intimately related to the competition between neutron capture and $\beta$-decay rates, which ultimately depends on…
While the origin of r-process nuclei remains a long-standing mystery, recent spectroscopic studies of extremely metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo strongly suggest that it is associated with core-collapse supernovae. In this article, an…