The 13C Pocket in Low Mass AGB Stars

Abstract

It is well known that thermally pulsing Asymptotic Giant Branch stars with low mass play a relevant role in the chemical evolution. They have synthesized about 30% of the galactic carbon and provide an important contribution to the nucleosynthesis of heavy elements (A>80). The relevant nucleosynthesis site is the He-rich intermediate zone (less than 10^{-2} Msun), where alpha(2alpha,gamma)12C reactions and slow neutron captures on seed nuclei essentially iron) take place. A key ingredient is the interplay between nuclear processes and convective mixing. It is the partial overlap of internal and external convective zones that allows the dredge-up of the material enriched in C and heavy elements. We review the progresses made in the last 50 years in the comprehension of the s process in AGB stars, with special attention to the identification of the main neutron sources and to the particular physical conditions allowing this important nucleosynthesis.

Accepted for Publication on PASA

References in corpus (3)

• Evolution, nucleosynthesis and yields of low mass AGB stars
• Turbulent Convection in Stellar Interiors. I. Hydrodynamic Simulation
• Hydrodynamic simulations of He-shell flash convection

Cited by in corpus (9)

• The s Process: Nuclear Physics, Stellar Models, Observations
• Evolution and nucleosynthesis of asymptotic giant branch stellar models of low metallicity
• Neutron Reactions in Astrophysics
• s-Processing in the Galactic Disk. I. Super-Solar Abundances of Y, Zr, La, Ce in Young Open Clusters
• News on the s process from young open clusters
• Nuclear astrophysics: the unfinished quest for the origin of the elements
• Barium and Yttrium abundance in intermediate-age and old open clusters
• Nucleosynthesis signatures of neutrino-driven winds from proto-neutron stars: a perspective from chemical evolution models
• Chemical evolution of star clusters