R-process nucleosynthesis calculations with complete nuclear physics input

Abstract

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 system abundance of r-process elements and that the r-process responsible for the production of elements heavier than Z=56 operates quite robustly producing always the same relative abundances. From the nuclear-physics point of view the r-process requires the knowledge of a large number of reaction rates involving exotic nuclei. These include neutron capture rates, beta-decays and fission rates, the latter for the heavier nuclei produced in the r-process. We have developed for the first time a complete database of reaction rates that in addition to neutron-capture rates and beta-decay half-lives includes all possible reactions that can induce fission (neutron-capture, beta-decay and spontaneous fission) and the corresponding fission yields. In addition, we have implemented these reaction rates in a fully implicit reaction network. We have performed r-process calculations for the neutrino-driven wind scenario to explore whether or not fission can contribute to provide a robust r-process pattern.

References in corpus (1)

• Large-scale prediction of the parity distribution in the nuclear level density and application to astrophysical reaction rates

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Magnetic dipole excitations in nuclei: elementary modes of nucleonic motion
• The effects of r-process heating on fall-back accretion in compact object mergers
• Electric and magnetic dipole modes in high-resolution inelastic proton scattering at $0^{\circ }$
• Fine structure of the isovector giant dipole resonance in 208Pb: Characteristic scales and level densities
• Fine Structure of the Isovector Giant Dipole Resonance in ${}^{142-150}$Nd and ${}^{152}$Sm
• Wavelet signatures of $K$-splitting of the Isoscalar Giant Quadrupole Resonance in deformed nuclei from high-resolution (p,p${}^{\prime }$) scattering off ${}^{146,148,150}$Nd
• Studies of the Giant Dipole Resonance in ${}^{27}$Al, ${}^{40}$Ca, ${}^{56}$Fe, ${}^{58}$Ni and ${}^{208}$Pb with high energy-resolution inelastic proton scattering under 0${}^{\circ }$
• Density Functional Theory Approach to Nuclear Fission
• Level density of 2+ states in 40Ca from high energy-resolution (p,p') experiments
• Nucleosynthesis: what direct reactions can do for it?
• Neutrino mixing in nuclear rapid neutron-capture processes
• An Outlook on Nuclear Physics