Related papers: Neutron Capture Nucleosynthesis
Neutron rich matter is at the heart of many fundamental questions in Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. What are the high density phases of QCD? Where did the chemical elements come from? What is the structure of many compact and energetic…
The identification of the astrophysical site and the specific conditions in which r-process nucleosynthesis takes place remain unsolved mysteries of astrophysics. The present paper emphasizes some important future challenges faced by…
It is generally agreed on that the tremendous densities reached in the centers of neutron stars provide a high-pressure environment in which numerous novel particles processes are likely to compete with each other. These processes range…
Neutrino-driven winds that follow core collapse supernovae were thought to be the site where half of the heavy elements are produced by the r-process. Although recent hydrodynamic simulations show that the conditions in the wind are not…
New elemental abundances for the neutron-capture elements Sr, Nb, Mo, Ru, La, Sm, and Eu are presented for a large sample of 180 barium (Ba) giant stars, a class of chemically peculiar objects that exhibit in their spectra enhancements of…
This chapter discusses three nucleosynthesis processes involved in producing heavy nuclei beyond the iron group that are influenced or shaped by neutrino interactions: the v process, the vp process and the r process. These processes are all…
The rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) is responsible for the creation of roughly half of the elements heavier than iron, including precious metals like silver, gold, and platinum, as well as radioactive elements such as thorium and…
Half of all the elements in the universe heavier than iron were created by rapid neutron capture. The theory for this astrophysical `$r$-process' was worked out six decades ago and requires an enormous neutron flux to make the bulk of these…
Beyond iron, a small fraction of the total abundances in the Solar System is made of proton-rich isotopes, the p nuclei. The clear understanding of their production is a fundamental challenge for nuclear astrophysics. The p nuclei constrain…
The recently improved information on the stellar (n,gamma) cross sections of neutron-magic nuclei at N = 82, and in particular of 142Nd, turned out to represent a sensitive test for models of s-process nucleosynthesis. While these data were…
This paper examines nucleosynthesis in a low-mass neutron star crust that loses mass due to accretion in a close binary system and, reaching a hydrodynamically unstable configuration explodes. The r-process proceeds mainly in the inner…
Neutron matter is an intriguing nuclear system with multiple connections to other areas of physics. Considerable progress has been made over the last two decades in exploring the properties of pure neutron fluids. Here we begin by reviewing…
Massive-star binaries can undergo a phase where one of the two stars expands during its advanced evolutionary stage as a giant and envelops its companion, ejecting the hydrogen envelope and tightening its orbit. Such a common envelope phase…
Although the detailed conditions for explosive nucleosynthesis are derived from astrophysical modeling, nuclear physics determines fundamental patterns in abundance yields, not only for equilibrium processes. Focussing on the nu-p- and the…
We explore the effects of nuclear masses on the temperature and neutron density conditions required for r-process nucleosynthesis using four nuclear mass models augmented by the latest atomic mass evaluation. For each model we derive the…
We outline a partial historical summary of the steps through which the nucleosynthesis phenomena induced by {\it slow} neutron captures (the {\it s-process}) were clarified, a scientific achievement in which Franz K\"appeler played a major…
Slow neutron captures are responsible for the production of about $50\%$ of elements heavier than iron, mainly, occurring during the asymptotic giant branch phase of low-mass stars ($1$ $\lesssim M$/M$_{\odot}$ $\lesssim$ $3$), where the…
The determination of astrophysical reaction rates requires different approaches depending on the conditions in hydrostatic and explosive burning. The focus here is on astrophysical reaction rates for radiative neutron capture reactions.…
As an explosion develops in the collapsed core of a massive star, neutrino emission drives convection in a hot bubble of radiation, nucleons, and pairs just outside a proto-neutron star. Shortly thereafter, neutrinos drive a wind-like…
I discuss the recent progress in our understanding of nucleosynthesis via rapid neutron capture, the r-process, based on meteoritic data for the early solar system and observations of stars at low metallicities. At present, all data require…