Related papers: Coalescing Neutron Stars: A Solution to the R-Proc…
Heavy elements like gold, platinum or uranium are produced in the r-process, which needs neutron-rich and explosive environments. Neutron star mergers are a promising candidate for an r-process site. They exhibit three different channels…
While it is now known that double neutron star binary systems (DNSs) are copious producers of heavy elements, there remains much speculation about whether they are the sole or even principal site of rapid neutron-capture (r-process)…
It is argued that the abundances of r-process related elements in stars with -3<[Fe/H]<-1 can be explained by the contributions of three sources. The sources are: the first generations of very massive (>100 solar masses) stars that are…
We reach the robust conclusion that, by combining the observed cosmic rays of r-process elements with the fact that the velocity of the neutron-star-merger ejecta is much higher than that of the supernova ejecta, either (1) the reverse…
We present the first calculations to follow the evolution of all stable isotopes (and their abundant radioactive progenitors) in a finely zoned stellar model computed from the onset of central hydrogen burning through explosion as a Type II…
The merger of two neutron stars has been proposed as a source of gamma-ray bursts, r-process elements, and detectable gravitational waves. Extracting information from observations of these phenomena requires fully relativistic simulations.…
We examine r-process nucleosynthesis in a "prompt supernova explosion" from an 8-10 Msun progenitor star, as an alternative scenario to the "neutrino wind" mechanism. In the present model, the progenitor star has formed an…
The $s$-process in massive stars produces the weak component of the $s$-process (nuclei up to $A \sim 90$), in amounts that match solar abundances. For heavier isotopes, such as barium, production through neutron capture is significantly…
The chemical abundances of metal-poor stars provide important clues to explore stellar formation history and set significant constraints on models of the r-process. In this work, we find that the abundance patterns of the light and iron…
The rapid neutron-capture process, or r-process, is known to be fundamental for explaining the origin of approximately half of the A>60 stable nuclei observed in nature. In recent years nuclear astrophysicists have developed more and more…
The production of about half of the heavy elements found in nature is assigned to a specific astrophysical nucleosynthesis process: the rapid neutron capture process (r-process). Although this idea has been postulated more than six decades…
To better characterize the abundance patterns produced by the r-process, we have derived new abundances or upper limits for the heavy elements zinc (Zn), yttrium (Y), lanthanum (La), europium (Eu), and lead (Pb). Our sample of 161…
Recent observations of heavy elements produced by rapid neutron capture (r-process) in the halo have shown a striking and unexpected behavior: within a single star, the relative abundances of r-process elements heavier than Eu are the same…
We investigated r-process nucleosynthesis in magneto-rotational supernovae, based on a new explosion mechanism induced by the magneto-rotational instability. A series of axisymmetric magneto-hydrodynamical simulations with detailed…
Comparing observational abundance features with nucleosynthesis predictions of stellar evolution or explosion simulations can scrutinize two aspects: (a) the conditions in the astrophysical production site and (b) the quality of the nuclear…
We present the distributions of elemental abundance ratios using chemodynamical simulations which include four different neutron capture processes: magneto-rotational supernovae, neutron star mergers, neutrino driven winds, and electron…
The recent detections of binary stellar mass black hole mergers by the LIGO and Virgo Collaborations suggest that such mergers are common occurrences. Galaxy mergers further indicate that supermassive black holes in centers of galaxies also…
Neutron star properties depend on both nuclear physics and astrophysical processes, and thus observations of neutron stars offer constraints on both large-scale astrophysics and the behavior of cold, dense matter. In this study, we use…
I compare seven actively studied r-process nucleosynthesis scenarios against observed properties of r-process elements in the early Universe, and conclude that the most likely scenario to contribute to the site of elements below the third…
We study the evolution of rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) isotopes in the Galaxy. We analyze relative contributions from core collapse supernovae (CCSNe), neutron star mergers (NSMs) and collapsars under a range of astrophysical…