Related papers: Coalescing Neutron Stars: A Solution to the R-Proc…
About half of the elements beyond iron are synthesized in stars by rapid-neutron capture process (r-process). The stellar environment provides very high neutron flux in a short time ($\sim$ seconds) which is conducive for the creation of…
Binary neutron star mergers (NSMs) have been confirmed as one source of the heaviest observable elements made by the rapid neutron-capture (r-) process. However, modeling NSM outflows -- from the total ejecta masses to their elemental…
Merging neutron stars generate shock waves that disintegrate heavy nuclei into nucleons especially in the outer envelope. It is expected that some of such neutrons having avoided capturing positrons remain as free neutrons even after…
This study investigates the antineutrinos production by $\beta$-decay of $r$-process nuclei in two astrophysical sites that are capable of producing gamma-ray bursts (GRBs): binary neutron star mergers (BNSMs) and collapsars, which are…
The coalescence of a neutron-star binary is likely to result in the formation of a neutron-star merger remnant for a large range of binary mass configurations. The massive merger remnant shows strong oscillations, which are excited by the…
Material ejected during (or immediately following) the merger of two neutron stars may assemble into heavy elements by the r-process. The subsequent radioactive decay of the nuclei can power electromagnetic emission similar to, but…
Heavy elements produced exclusively through rapid neutron capture (the '$r$-process') originate from violent cosmic explosions. While neutron star mergers are the primary candidates, another plausible production site are…
Our understanding of the origin of heavy elements beyond iron relies on the rapid neutron capture process (r-process), which accounts for roughly half of their cosmic abundance. However, the extreme neutron-rich conditions required for the…
The r-process constitutes one of the major challenges in nuclear astrophysics. Its astrophysical site has not yet been identified but there is observational evidence suggesting that at least two possible sites should contribute to the solar…
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…
Surface abundance observations of halo stars hint at the occurrence of $r$-process nucleosynthesis at low metallicity ($\rm{[Fe/H]< -3}$), possibly within the first $10^8$ yr after the formation of the first stars. Possible loci of…
The astrophysical origin of the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process), which produces about half of the elements heavier than iron, remains uncertain. The oldest, most metal-poor stars preserve the chemical signatures of early…
(Abridged) It is shown that a semi-quantitative agreement with the gross solar r-process abundance pattern near and above mass number A=130 can be obtained by a superposition of two distinctive kinds of supernova r-process events. These…
Neutrinos are copiously emitted by neutron star mergers, due to the high temperatures reached by dense matter during the merger and its aftermath. Neutrinos influence the merger dynamics and shape the properties of the ejecta, including the…
(Abridged) In this paper we present a compilation of results from our most advanced neutron star merger simulations, including a description of the employed numerical procedures and a more complete overview over a large number of computed…
The end state of binary-neutron-star (BNS) mergers can manifest conditions to produce high-energy neutrinos. Inspired by the event GW170817, detected in gravitational waves and in optical/infrared emission, we investigate a scenario in…
We show that a minimum-mass neutron star undergoes delayed explosion after mass removal from its surface. We couple the Newtonian hydrodynamics to a nuclear reaction network of $\sim4500$ isotopes to study the nucleosynthesis and neutrino…
Abundance observations indicate the presence of rapid-neutron capture (i.e., r-process) elements in old Galactic halo and globular cluster stars. These observations demonstrate that the earliest generations of stars in the Galaxy,…
Despite recent progress, the astrophysical channels responsible for rapid neutron capture (r-process) nucleosynthesis remain an unsettled question. Observations of kilonovae following gravitational wave-detected neutron star mergers…
The role of compact binary mergers as the main production site of r-process elements is investigated by combining stellar abundances of Eu observed in the Milky Way, galactic chemical evolution (GCE) simulations, binary population synthesis…