Related papers: $\beta$-delayed fission in $r$-process nucleosynth…
The region of heavy calcium isotopes forms the frontier of experimental and theoretical nuclear structure research where the basic concepts of nuclear physics are put to stringent test. The recent discovery of the extremely neutron-rich…
Nuclear astrophysics simulations aiming to study the origin of the elements in stars require a multitude of nuclear physics input. Both systematic model dependent and statistically correlated uncertainties need to be considered. An…
The interpretation of observations of cooling neutron star crusts in quasi-persistent X-ray transients is affected by predictions of the strength of neutrino cooling via crust Urca processes. The strength of crust Urca neutrino cooling…
Some extensions beyond the Standard Model propose the existence of nearly degenerate heavy sterile neutrinos. If kinematically allowed these can be resonantly produced and decay in a cascade to common final states. The common decay channels…
Over the last decade, there has been significant improvement in the understanding and modeling of the decay of fission fragments by both prompt and delayed emission. These model improvements open the door for performing consistent…
Background: Recent experiments on beta-delayed fission in the mercury-lead region and the discovery of asym- metric fission in 180 Hg [1] have stimulated theoretical interest in the mechanism of fission in heavy nuclei. Purpose: We study…
The impact of nuclear physics on astrophysical r-process models is discussed, emphasizing the importance of beta-decay properties of neutron-rich nuclei. Several r-process motivated beta-decay experiments performed at the National…
We calculate neutrino-induced fission cross sections for selected nuclei with Z=84-92. We show that these reactions populate the daughter nucleus at excitation energies where shell effects are significantly washed out, effectively reducing…
We explore heavy element nucleosynthesis in the explosion of massive stars which are triggered by a quark-hadron phase transition during the early post bounce phase of core-collapse supernovae. The present study is based on general…
This manuscript reviews recent progress in our understanding of the nucleosynthesis of medium and heavy elements in supernovae. Recent hydrodynamical models of core-collapse supernovae show that a large amount of proton rich matter is…
Background: Precise understanding of nuclear fission is crucial for experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, astrophysics, and industrial applications; however, the complete physical mechanics is unresolved due to the complexities.…
We investigate the decay of 87Br, 88Br and 94Rb using total absorption gamma-ray spectroscopy. These important fission products are beta-delayed neutron emitters. Our data show considerable gamma-intensity, so far unobserved in…
We demonstrate that nucleosynthesis in rapid, high-entropy expansions of proton-rich matter from high temperature and density can result in a wider variety of abundance patterns than heretofore appreciated. In particular, such expansions…
Background: A quantitative microscopic understanding of the fission-fragment yield distributions represents a major challenge for nuclear theory as it involves the intricate competition between large-amplitude nuclear collective motion and…
The concept of fission barrier - a parameter which enters in quantitative estimates of various observables related to nuclear fission - is presented from the point of view of theory based on the picture of nuclear deformation and energy…
The specific mechanism and astrophysical site for the production of half of the elements heavier than iron via rapid neutron capture (r-process) remains to be found. In order to reproduce the abundances of the solar system and of the old…
A high precision method to determine fusion in the capture of $\alpha$-particles by nuclei is presented. For $\alpha$-capture by $^{40}{\rm Ca}$ and $^{44}{\rm Ca}$, such an approach gives (1) the parameters of the $\alpha$--nucleus…
A long-standing scientific puzzle has been to explain the origin of the heaviest elements in the Universe and, more particularly, the production of the elements heavier than iron up to uranium. The rapid neutron capture process (or…
The fusion excitation function is the important quantity in planning experiments for the synthesis of superheavy elements. Its values seem to be determined by the experimental study of the hindrance to complete fusion by the observation of…
In this paper, we report a systematic study of the heaviest nuclei within the relativistic mean field (RMF) model. By comparing our results with those of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method (HFB) and the finite range droplet model (FRDM),…