Related papers: Neutron Capture Nucleosynthesis
The r-process, or the rapid neutron-capture process, of stellar nucleosynthesis is called for to explain the production of the stable (and some long-lived radioactive) neutron-rich nuclides heavier than iron that are observed in stars of…
In this review we outline our knowledge on slow neutron captures, concentrating on its main part occurring during the final stages of stellar evolution for low or intermediate-mass stars when they evolve during the Asymptotic Giant Branch,…
The r-process of nucleosynthesis requires a large neutron-to-seed nucleus ratio. This does not, however, that there be an excess of neutrons over protons. If the expansion of the material is sufficiently rapid and the entropy per nucleon is…
The determination of heavy element abundances from planetary nebula (PN) spectra provides an exciting opportunity to study the nucleosynthesis occurring in the progenitor asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star. We perform post-processing…
The synthesis of nuclei in diverse cosmic scenarios is reviewed, with a summary of the basic concepts involved before a discussion of the current status in each case is made. We review the physics of the early universe, the proton to…
We examine nucleosynthesis in the electron capture supernovae of progenitor AGB stars with an O-Ne-Mg core (with the initial stellar mass of 8.8 M_\odot). Thermodynamic trajectories for the first 810 ms after core bounce are taken from a…
The continued interest to the study of the radiative neutron capture on atomic nuclei is caused, on the one hand, by the important role of this process in the analysis of many fundamental properties of nuclei and nuclear reactions, and, on…
Nuclear physics has a long and productive history of application to astrophysics which continues today. Advances in the accuracy and breadth of astrophysical data and theory drive the need for better experimental and theoretical…
Neutron-capture elements, those with Z > 35, are the least well-understood in terms of nucleosynthesis and formation environments. The rapid neutron-capture, or r-process, elements are formed in the environments and/or remnants of massive…
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) r/s-stars show surface-abundance distributions characteristic of the so-called intermediate neutron capture process (i-process) of nucleosynthesis. We previously showed that the ingestion of protons in the…
The r-process involves neutron-rich nuclei far off stability for which no experimental cross sections are known. Therefore, one has to rely on theory. The difficulties in the predictions are briefly addressed. To investigate the impact of…
In past decades a lot of progress has been made towards understanding the main s-process component that takes place in thermally pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars. During this process about half of the heavy elements, mainly…
We explore neutrino capture during r-process nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven ejecta from nascent neutron stars. We focus on the interplay between charged-current weak interactions and element synthesis, and we delineate the important…
We discuss the possibility whether superheavy elements can be produced in Nature by the astrophysical rapid neutron capture process. To this end we have performed fully dynamical network r-process calculations assuming an environment with…
How are the heavy elements formed? This has been a key open question in physics for decades. Recent direct detections of neutron star mergers and observations of evolved stars show signatures of chemical elements in the blue range of their…
The rapid neutron-capture process needed to build up many of the elements heavier than iron seems to take place primarily in neutron-star mergers, not supernova explosions.
We present stellar evolutionary tracks and nucleosynthetic predictions for a grid of stellar models of low- and intermediate-mass asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars at $Z=0.001$ ([Fe/H]$=-1.2$). The models cover an initial mass range from…
Lead (Pb) is predominantly produced by the slow neutron-capture process (s process) in asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. In contrast to significantly enhanced Pb abundances predicted by low-mass, low-metallicity AGB-models, observations…
The rapid neutron capture process (r process) is believed to be responsible for about half of the production of the elements heavier than iron and contributes to abundances of some lighter nuclides as well. A universal pattern of r-process…
Recent studies suggest that metal-poor stars enhanced in carbon but containing low levels of neutron-capture elements may have been among the first to incorporate the nucleosynthesis products of the first generation of stars. We have…