The Sensitivity of Nucleosynthesis in Type I X-ray Bursts to Thermonuclear Reaction-Rate Variations

Abstract

We examine the sensitivity of nucleosynthesis in Type I X-ray bursts to variations in nuclear rates. As a large number of nuclear processes are involved in these phenomena -with the vast majority of reaction rates only determined theoretically due to the lack of any experimental information- our results can provide a means for determining which rates play significant roles in the thermonuclear runaway. These results may then motivate new experiments. For our studies, we have performed a comprehensive series of one-zone post-processing calculations in conjunction with various representative X-ray burst thermodynamic histories. We present those reactions whose rate variations have the largest effects on yields in our studies.

arXiv comment8 pages, accepted for publication in New Astronomy Reviews, Special Issue on "Astronomy with Radioactivities VI" workshop, Ringberg Castle, Germany, Jan. 2008

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Cited by in corpus (2)

• Nuclear processes in Astrophysics: Recent progress
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