Related papers: The formation of the heaviest elements
An update on astrophysical models for nucleosynthesis via rapid neutron capture, the r process, is given. A neutrino-induced r process in supernova helium shells may have operated up to metallicities of ~10^-3 times the solar value. Another…
Mergers of neutron stars (NS+NS) or neutron stars and stellar mass black holes (NS+BS) eject a small fraction of matter with a sub-relativistic velocity. Upon rapid decompression nuclear density medium condenses into neutron rich nuclei,…
We report an extremely rapid mechanism for magnetic field amplification during the merger of a binary neutron star system. This has implications for the production of the short class of Gamma-Ray Bursts, which recent observations suggest…
Using the idea of a smooth crossover from the hadronic matter with hyperons to quark matter with strangeness, we show that the maximum mass of neutron stars with quark matter core can be larger than those without quark matter core. This is…
Gravity compresses the matter in the cores of neutron stars to densities which are significantly higher than the density of ordinary atomic nuclei, thus providing a high-pressure environment in which numerous particle processes - from the…
In contrast to regular core-collapse supernovae, explosions of rapidly rotating massive stars can develop jets, fast collimated outflows directed along the rotational axis. Depending on the rate of rotation and the magnetic field strength…
We investigate the physical processes which lead to the formation of massive stars. Using a numerical simulation of the formation of a stellar cluster from a turbulent molecular cloud, we evaluate the relevant contributions of fragmentation…
The rapid neutron-capture process ($r$-process) has for the first time been confirmed to take place in a neutron-star merger event. A detailed understanding of the rapid neutron-capture process is one of the holy grails in nuclear…
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…
The nucleosynthesis in the first massive stars may be constrained by observing the surface composition of long-lived very iron-poor stars born around 10 billion years ago from material enriched by their ejecta. Many interesting clues on…
Recent hydrodynamical simulations of the late stages of supernova remnant (SNR) evolution have revealed that as they merge with the ambient medium, SNRs implode, leading to the formation of dense clouds in their center. While being highly…
The discovery of the radioactively powered kilonova AT2017gfo, associated with the short-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 170817A and the gravitational wave source GW170817, has provided the first direct evidence supporting binary neutron star…
As a massive star evolves through multiple stages of nuclear burning on its way to becoming a supernova, a complex, differentially rotating structure is set up. Angular momentum is transported by a variety of classic instabilities, and also…
We investigate the structure of neutron stars shortly after they are born, when the entropy per baryon is of order 1 or 2 and neutrinos are trapped on dynamical timescales. In all cases, the thermal effects for an entropy per baryon of…
The Iron Sun formed on the collapsed core of a supernova and now acts as a magnetic plasma diffuser, as did the precursor star, separating ions by mass. This process covers the solar surface with lightweight elements and with lighter…
Neutron stars contain matter in one of the densest forms found in the Universe. This feature, together with the unprecedented progress in observational astrophysics, makes such stars superb astrophysical laboratories for a broad range of…
Recent developments in neutron star theory and observation are discussed. Based on modern nucleon-nucleon potentials more reliable equations of state for dense nuclear matter have been constructed. Furthermore, phase transitions such as…
In order to actually see the hadron-quark transition happening in a neutron star, we point out and study two static conditions (the transition hadronic density must be lower than the neutron star maximum hadronic density; the neutron star…
Massive stars and their supernovae are prominent sources of radioactive isotopes, the observations of which thus can help to improve our astrophysical models of those. Our understanding of stellar evolution and the final explosive endpoints…
Growing interests in neutron star (NS) mergers as the origin of r-process elements have sprouted since the discovery of evidence for the ejection of these elements from a short-duration gamma-ray burst. The hypothesis of a NS merger origin…