Related papers: Hope and Inquietudes in Nucleo-cosmochronology
Nuclear chronometer, which predicts the ages of the oldest stars by comparing the present and initial abundances of long-lived radioactive nuclides, provides an independent dating technique for the cosmos. A new nuclear chronometer called…
Recent observations of r-nuclei, and in particular of Th, in ultra-metal poor stars revived the old idea that the Th cosmochronometry could provide an age estimate of the oldest stars in the Galaxy, and therefore a lower limit to the age of…
The proposal for the development of a nuclear optical clock has triggered a multitude of experimental and theoretical studies. In particular the prediction of an unprecedented systematic frequency uncertainty of about $10^{-19}$ has…
Abundance ratios of radioactive to stable neutron-capture elements in very metal-poor stars may be used to estimate the age of our Galaxy. But extracting accurate ages from these data requires continuing work on many fronts: a)…
The productions of thorium and uranium are key ingredients in $r$-process nucleo-cosmochronology. With the combination of improved nuclear and stellar data, we have made detailed investigations on the $r$-process abundance pattern in the…
Nucleocosmochronology involves the use of the abundances of radioactive nuclear species and their radiogenic decay daughters to establish the finite age of the elements and the time scale for their formation. While there exist radioactive…
In a short review of neutron-capture elemental abundances in Galactic halo stars, emphasis is placed on the use of these elements to estimate the age of the Galactic halo. Two prominent characteristics of neutron-capture elements in halo…
An overview over the current status of the development of a nuclear clock based on the state of lowest known nuclear excitation energy in $^{229}$Th is presented. The text is especially written for the interested reader without any…
The work of M\"uller et al. [Phys. Rev. C 73, 025804 (2006); astro-ph/0512603] provides interesting experimental data on neutron emission by photodisintegration of 187Re. However, the comparison to theory and the discussed implications for…
The abundance ratios of radioactive elements U/Th and stable elements Pb/Os from the $r$-process are found to have a strong correlation. This correlation is quite robust with respect to astrophysical conditions. The U/Th-Pb/Os correlation…
The low-energy, long-lived isomer in $^{229}$Th, first studied in the 1970s as an exotic feature in nuclear physics, continues to inspire a multidisciplinary community of physicists. Using the nuclear resonance frequency, determined by the…
Observations of metal-poor Galactic halo stars indicate that the abundance pattern of the (heaviest) neutron-capture elements is consistent with the scaled solar system r-process abundances. Utilizing the radioactive (r-process) element…
Clocks based on nuclear isomer transitions promise exceptional stability and precision. The low transition energy of the thorium-229 isomer makes it an ideal candidate, as it has been excited by a vacuum-ultraviolet laser and is highly…
Motivated by recent experimental breakthroughs toward a realization of a solid-state Thorium-229 nuclear clock, we review the technology, basic physics motivation, and limitations of the present generation of atomic clocks. We then discuss…
We review recent observational and theoretical results concerning the presence of actinide nuclei on the surfaces of old halo stars and their use as an age determinant. We present model calculations which show that the observed universality…
The total mass density of the Universe appears to be dominated by dark matter. However, beyond its gravitational interactions at the galactic scale, little is known about its nature. Extensions of the quantum electrodynamics Lagrangian with…
Observational astronomy has shown significant growth over the last decade and has made important contributions to cosmology. A major paradigm shift in cosmology was brought about by observations of Type Ia supernovae. The notion that the…
Multi-messenger astronomical observations of neutron stars, together with more precise calculations and constraints coming from dense matter microphysics, are generating tension with regard to equations of state models used to describe…
This review highlights current (and future) hot topics in astrophysics where atomic or molecular input data are (or will be) essential, with special emphasis on topics relating to nucleosynthesis and cosmochemistry. We first discuss issues…
The nuclear chosmochronometer suggested by Hayakawa et al. [Phys. Rev.C 77, 065802 (2008)] based on the 138La-138Ce-136Ce abundance ratio in presolar grains would be affected by the existence of a hitherto unknown low-energy 1+ state in…