Related papers: Actinides: How well do we know their stellar produ…
This chapter presents an overview of the recent progress on spectroscopic observations of metal-poor stars with r-process element signatures found in the Milky Way's stellar halo and satellite dwarf galaxies. Major empirical lessons related…
The recent discovery by Cayrel et al. of U in CS 31082-001 along with Os and Ir at greatly enhanced abundances but with [Fe/H]=-2.9 strongly reinforces the argument that there are at least two kinds of SNII sources for r-nuclei. One source…
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…
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…
The astrophysical site or sites responsible for the r-process of nucleosynthesis still remains an enigma. Since the rare earth region is formed in the latter stages of the r-process it provides a unique probe of the astrophysical conditions…
Moderately r-process-enriched stars (r-I) are at least four times as common as those that are greatly enriched in r-process elements (r-II), and the abundances in their atmospheres are important tools for obtaining a better understanding of…
Probing the origin of r-process elements in the universe represents a multi-disciplinary challenge. We review the observational evidence that probe the properties of r-process sites, and address them using galactic chemical evolution…
We examine the Pb and Th abundances in 27 metal-poor stars (-3.1 < [Fe/H] < -1.4) whose very heavy metal (Z > 56) enrichment was produced only by the rapid (r-) nucleosynthesis process. New abundances are derived from HST/STIS, Keck/HIRES,…
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…
A brief overview of the r-process is given with an emphasis on the observational implications for this process. The conditions required for the major production of the heavy r-process elements (r-elements) with mass numbers A >130 are…
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…
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…
The composition of the early Solar System can be inferred from meteorites. Many elements heavier than iron were formed by the rapid neutron-capture process (r process), but the astrophysical sources where this occurred remain poorly…
The heavy elements formed by neutron capture processes have an interesting history from which we can extract useful clues to and constraints upon both the characteristics of the processes themselves and the star formation and…
Heavy elements are synthesized by the r-process in neutron star mergers and potentially in rare supernovae linked to strong magnetic fields. Expensive hydrodynamic simulations of these extreme environments are usually post-processed to…
Nuclear masses play a fundamental role in understanding how the heaviest elements in the Universe are created in the $r$-process. We predict $r$-process nucleosynthesis yields using neutron capture and photodissociation rates that are based…
The isotopic abundances of r-process elements in the solar system are traditionally derived as residuals from the subtraction of s-process contributions from total solar abundances. However, the uncertainties in s-process nucleosynthesis --…
We present a review of the possible sources for r-process nuclei. It is known that there is as yet no self-consistent mechanism to provide abundant neutrons for a robust r-process in the neutrino-driven winds from nascent neutron stars. We…
There has been significant progress in the understanding of the r-process over the last ten years. The conditions required for this process have been examined in terms of the parameters for adiabatic expansion from high temperature and…
The recent detection of 60Fe in the cosmic rays provides conclusive evidence that there is a recently synthesized component (few MY) in the GCRs (Binns et al. 2016). In addition, these nuclei must have been synthesized and accelerated in…