Publications (52)
Neutrino Process Nucleosynthesis and the B/B Ratio
Keith A. Olive, Nikos Prantzos, Sean Scully +1
We consider the evolution of the light elements ( and ) incorporating the effects of their production by both neutrino process and cosmic-ray nucleosynthesis. We test th…
Astrophysical gamma-ray lines: a probe of stellar nucleosynthesis and star formation
Nikos Prantzos
Astrophysical gamma-ray spectroscopy is a most valuable tool for studying nuclear astrophysics, as well as recent star formation in the Milky Way. After a short, historical, introd…
Recent star formation episodes in the Galaxy: impact on its chemical properties and the evolution of its abundance gradient
Tianxiang Chen, Nikos Prantzos
We investigate the chemical evolution of the Milky Way disc exploring various schemes of recent (last several Gyr) star formation episodes, as reported in recent observational work…
Origin of cosmic rays and evolution of spallogenic nuclides Li, Be and B
Nikos Prantzos
A short overview is presented of current issues concerning the production and evolution of Li, Be and B in the Milky Way. In particular, the observed "primary-like" evolution of Be…
Neutron Star Mergers as the Origin of r-Process Elements in the Galactic Halo Based on the Sub-halo Clustering Scenario
Yuhri Ishimaru, Shinya Wanajo, Nikos Prantzos
Binary mergers (NSMs) of double neutron star (and black hole-neutron star) systems are suggested to be major sites of r-process elements in the Galaxy by recent hydrodynamical and…
On the Galactic Evolution of and
Elisabeth Vangioni-Flam, Keith A. Olive, Nikos Prantzos
The determined abundances of primordial and provide a basis with which to test the standard model of big bang nucleosynthesis in conjunction with the other two light…
The Radioactive Nuclei Al and Fe in the Cosmos and in the Solar System
Roland Diehl, Maria Lugaro, Alexander Heger +15
The cosmic evolution of the chemical elements from the Big Bang to the present time is driven by nuclear fusion reactions inside stars and stellar explosions. A cycle of matter rec…
On the early evolution of the Galactic Halo
Nikos Prantzos
It is shown that the low metallicity tail of the stellar metallicity distribution predicted by simple Outflow models for the Milky Way halo depends sensitively on whether Instantan…
The impact of rare events on the chemical enrichment in dwarf galaxies
Nao Fukagawa, Nikos Prantzos
In the environments where the abundance of heavy elements is low, rare events are expected to impact the chemical enrichment. Dwarf galaxies have small masses, low average metallic…
Positron Annihilation in the Galaxy
Carolyn A. Kierans, John F. Beacom, Steve Boggs +27
The 511 keV line from positron annihilation in the Galaxy was the first -ray line detected to originate from outside our solar system. Going into the fifth decade since the dis…
Superbubble dynamics in globular cluster infancy II. Consequences for secondary star formation in the context of self-enrichment via fast rotating massive stars
Martin Krause, Corinne Charbonnel, Thibaut Decressin +2
The self-enrichment scenario for globular clusters (GC) requires large amounts of residual gas after the initial formation of the first stellar generation. Recently, Krause et al.…
The Milky Way and the evolution of disk galaxies
Nikos Prantzos
We present a phenomenological approach to the study of disk galaxy evolution, based on i) a detailed modelling of the Milky Way (used as a prototype disk galaxy) and ii) an extensi…
Abundances of planetary nebulae and evolved stars: Iron and sulfur depletion, and carbon and nitrogen enrichment, in low- and intermediate-mass stellar populations in the Milky Way
Letizia Stanghellini, Verne V. Smith, Katia Cunha +1
We explore the elemental abundances in Galactic planetary nebulae (PNe) compared with those of their stellar progenitors (Red Giant Branch and Asymptotic Giant Branch, RGB and AGB,…
The Role of Single Stars of Low and Intermediate Mass in Galactic Chemical Evolution
Nikos Prantzos
A short overview is presented of the role that Low and Intermediate mass stars play in Galactic Chemical Evolution; their action affects key elements and isotopes, like deuterium,…
A joint analysis of the Drake equation and the Fermi paradox
Nikos Prantzos
I propose a unified framework for a joint analysis of the Drake equation and the Fermi paradox, which enables a simultaneous, quantitative study of both of them. The analysis is ba…
Superbubble dynamics in globular cluster infancy I. How do globular clusters first lose their cold gas?
Martin Krause, Corinne Charbonnel, Thibaut Decressin +3
The picture of the early evolution of globular clusters has been significantly revised in recent years. Current scenarios require at least two generations of stars of which the fir…
The metallicity distribution of the halo and the satellites of the Milky way in the hierarchical merging paradigm
Nikos Prantzos
To account for the observed differential metallicity distribution (DMD) of the Milky Way halo, a semi-analytical model is presented in the framework of the hierarchical merging par…
Astrophysical constraints from gamma-ray spectroscopy
Roland Diehl, Nikos Prantzos, Peter von Ballmoos
Gamma-ray lines from cosmic sources provide unique isotopic information, since they originate from energy level transitions in the atomic nucleus. Gamma-ray telescopes explored thi…
Topics on Galactic Chemical Evolution
Nikos Prantzos
I discuss three different topics in Galactic chemical evolution:the "puzzling" absence of any observational signature of secondary elements ; the building of the Galactic halo in t…
The Missing Link: Testing Galactic Chemical Evolution Models with the First Multi-Isotopic Abundances in Solar Twin Stars
David R. Coria, Ian J. M. Crossfield, Joshua Lothringer +3
We present the first isotopic abundances of both CO and CO in solar twin stars and test the results against several galactic chemical evolution (GCE) models with diff…
On the self-enrichment scenario of galactic globular clusters: Constraints on the IMF
Nikos Prantzos, Corinne Charbonnel
Galactic globular cluster (GC) stars exhibit abundance patterns which are not shared by their field counterparts, In the framework of the widely accepted "self-enrichment" scenario…
Fluorine Abundances in the Galactic Nuclear Star Cluster
Rafael Guerço, Solange RamÃrez, Katia Cunha +4
Abundances of fluorine (F), as well as isotopic ratios of O/O, are derived in a sample of luminous young (10--10 yrs) red giants in the Galac…
Evidence of Deep Mixing in IRS 7, a Cool Massive Supergiant Member of the Galactic Nuclear Star Cluster
Rafael Guerço, Verne V. Smith, Katia Cunha +9
The center of the Milky Way contains stellar populations spanning a range in age and metallicity, with a recent star formation burst producing young and massive stars. Chemical abu…
Evolution of CNO abundances in the Universe
Nikos Prantzos
After summarizing the most important features of current stellar yields of CNO elements (including recent results concerning rotating and mass losing stars) I discuss how these yie…
Cosmic radioactivities
Marcel Arnould, Nikos Prantzos
Radionuclides with half-lives ranging from some years to billions of years presumably synthesized outside of the solar system are now recorded in ``live'' or ``fossil'' form in var…
Light nuclei in galactic globular clusters : constraints on the self-enrichment scenario from nucleosynthesis
Nikos Prantzos, Corinne Charbonnel, Christian Iliadis
Hydrogen-burning is the root cause of the star-to-star abundance variations of light nuclei in Galactic globular clusters (GC). In the present work we constrain the physical condit…
Evolution of lithium in the disc of the Galaxy and the role of novae
Sviatoslav Borisov, Nikos Prantzos, Corinne Charbonnel
Lithium plays a crucial role in probing stellar physics and stellar and primordial nucleosynthesis, as well as the chemical evolution of our Galaxy. Stars are considered to be the…
Yields of Massive Stars and their Role in Galactic Chemical Evolution Studies
Nikos Prantzos
We review the yields of intermediate mass elements (from C to Zn) from massive stars and their associated uncertainties, in the light of recent theoretical results. We consider the…
Abundance Anomalies in Galactic Globular Clusters - Looking for the Stellar Culprits
Corinne Charbonnel, Nikos Prantzos
Galactic globular cluster stars exhibit abundance patterns which are not shared by their field counterparts. It is clear from recent spectroscopic observations of GC turnoff stars…
Cosmic Radioactivity and Galactic Chemical Evolution
Roland Diehl, Nikos Prantzos
The description of the tempo-spatial evolution of the composition of cosmic gas on galactic scales is called 'modelling galactic chemical evolution'. It aims to use knowledge about…
Stochastic Chemical Evolution of Galactic Subhalos and the Origin of r-Process Elements
Takuya Ojima, Yuhri Ishimaru, Shinya Wanajo +2
Mergers of compact binaries (of a neutron star and another neutron star or a black hole, NSMs) are suggested to be the promising astrophysical site of the r-process. While the aver…
Jet-Induced Nucleosynthesis in Misaligned Microquasars
Yousaf M. Butt, Thomas J. Maccarone, Nikos Prantzos
The jet axes and the orbital planes of microquasar systems are usually assumed to be approximately perpendicular, eventhough this is not currently an observational requirement. On…
Li, Be, B and Cosmic Rays in the Galaxy
Nikos Prantzos
A short overview is presented of current issues concerning the production and evolution of Li, Be and B in the Milky Way. It is argued that the currently popular idea that Galactic…
On the origin of the Galactic thin and thick discs, their abundance gradients and the diagnostic potential of their abundance ratios
Nikos Prantzos, Carlos Abia, Tianxiang Chen +8
Using a semi-analytical model of the evolution of the Milky Way, we show how secular evolution can create distinct overdensities in the phase space of various properties (e.g. age…
Stellar Radioactivities and diffuse gamma-ray line emission in the Milky Way
Nikos Prantzos
After a short historical introduction to the field of gamma-ray line astronomy with radioactivities, I present an overview of recent results concerning the massive star yields of t…
On the intensity and spatial morphology of the 511 keV emission in the Milky Way
Nikos Prantzos
The positron emissivity of the Galactic bulge and disk, resulting from radioactivity of SNIa, is reassessed in the light of a recent evaluation of the SNIa rate. It is found that t…
An Introduction to Galactic Chemical Evolution
Nikos Prantzos
The formalism of the simple model of galactic chemical evolution (GCE) and its main ingredients (stellar properties, initial mass function, star formation rate and gas flows) are p…
On the relative frequencies of core-collapse supernovae sub-types: the role of progenitor metallicity
Nikos Prantzos, Samuel Boissier
We show that the observed ratio of the subtypes Ib,c and II core-collapse supernovae depends on the metallicity of the host galaxy, as expected on theoretical grounds. However, the…
Nucleosynthesis and gamma-ray lines
Nikos Prantzos
Astrophysical gamma-ray spectroscopy is an invaluable tool for studying nuclear astrophysics, supernova structure, recent star formation in the Milky Way and mixing of nucleosynthe…
On Potassium and Other Abundance Anomalies of Red Giants in NGC 2419
Christian Iliadis, Amanda Karakas, Nikos Prantzos +2
Globular clusters are of paramount importance for testing theories of stellar evolution and early galaxy formation. Strong evidence for multiple populations of stars in globular cl…
Microquasar Jet Irradiation of the Proto-Solar Nebula?
Yousaf Butt, Nikos Prantzos
We explore the possibility that a now-extinct microquasar may have irradiated the proto-solar neighborhood, causing the 'anomalously' high local 11B/10B isotopic ratio. Given the p…
The role of Star Formation in the evolution of spiral galaxies
Nikos Prantzos
Spiral galaxies offer a unique opportunity to study the role of star formation in galaxy evolution and to test various theoretical star formation schemes. I review some recent rele…
On the early chemical evolution of the Milky Way
Nikos Prantzos
A few topics concerning the early chemical evolution of the Milky Way are critically discussed. In particular, it is argued that: 1) Observed abundance patterns of extremely metal…
Deuterium at high redshift: primordial or evolved ?
Nikos Prantzos, Yuhri Ishimaru
On the basis of arguments from galactic chemical evolution we suggest that the recent observations of D/H vs. metallicity in several high redshift absorbers are best understood if…
Abundance evolution of intermediate mass elements (C to Zn) in the Milky Way halo and disk
Aruna Goswami, Nikos Prantzos
We present a comprehensive study of the evolution of the abundances of intermediate mass elements, from C to Zn, in the Milky Way halo and in the local disk. We use a consistent mo…
Neutron star mergers as the astrophysical site of the r-process in the Milky Way and its satellite galaxies
Shinya Wanajo, Yutaka Hirai, Nikos Prantzos
Recent progress of nucleosynthesis work as well as the discovery of a kilonova associated with the gravitational-wave source GW170817 indicates that neutron star mergers (NSM) can…
A probabilistic analysis of the Fermi paradox in terms of the Drake formula: the role of the L factor
Nikos Prantzos
In evaluating the number of technological civilizations N in the Galaxy through the Drake formula, emphasis is mostly put on the astrophysical and biotechnological factors describi…
The early phases of Milky Way's chemical evolution
Nikos Prantzos
The earliest phases of the chemical evolution of our Galaxy are analysed in the light of the recent VLT results (concerning abundance patterns in the most metal-poor stars of the G…
A coherent view of Li depletion and angular momentum transport to explain the Li plateau -- from Population II to Population I stars
Sviatoslav Borisov, Corinne Charbonnel, Nikos Prantzos +2
Unraveling the cosmological Li problem - the discrepancy between Big Bang nucleosynthesis predictions and observed values in the Spite plateau - requires a comprehensive exploratio…
Origin and evolution of the light nuclides
Nikos Prantzos
After a short historical (and highly subjective) introduction to the field, I discuss our current understanding of the origin and evolution of the light nuclides D, He-3, He-4, Li-…
On the "Galactic Habitable Zone"
Nikos Prantzos
The concept of Galactic Habitable Zone (GHZ) was introduced a few years ago as an extension of the much older concept of Circumstellar Habitable Zone. However, the physical process…
The energetics, evolution, and stellar depletion of Li6 in the early Galaxy
Nikos Prantzos
Motivated by the recent report of a high Li6 ``plateau'' extending to low metallicities in Galactic halo stars, we study the energetics of an early production of Li6 through the in…