Astromers in the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei

Abstract

We study the impact of astrophysically relevant nuclear isomers (astromers) in the context of the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) nucleosynthesis. We compute thermally mediated transition rates between long-lived isomers and the corresponding ground states in neutron-rich nuclei. We calculate the temperature-dependent beta-decay feeding factors which represent the fraction of material going to each of the isomer and ground state daughter species from the beta-decay parent species. We simulate nucleosynthesis by including as separate species nuclear excited states with measured terrestrial half-lives greater than 100 microseconds. We find a variety of isomers throughout the chart of nuclides are populated, and we identify those most likely to be influential. We comment on the capacity of isomer production to alter radioactive heating in an r-process environment.

arXiv comment8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

References in corpus (24)

• Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger
• The r-process of stellar nucleosynthesis: Astrophysics and nuclear physics achievements and mysteries
• The X-ray counterpart to the gravitational wave event GW 170817
• The Emergence of a Lanthanide-Rich Kilonova Following the Merger of Two Neutron Stars
• Identification of strontium in the merger of two neutron stars
• The impact of individual nuclear properties on $r$-process nucleosynthesis
• r-Process Lanthanide Production and Heating Rates in Kilonovae
• The Kr85 s-process Branching and the Mass of Carbon Stars
• r-Process Nucleosynthesis: Connecting Rare-Isotope Beam Facilities with the Cosmos
• Measurement of the ${}^{229}$Th isomer energy with a magnetic micro-calorimeter
• Californium-254 and kilonova light curves
• Astromers: Nuclear Isomers in Astrophysics
• Lifetimes of 26Al and 34Cl in an astrophysical plasma
• Cross-Section Measurements of the 86Kr(g,n) Reaction to Probe the s-Process Branching at 85Kr
• New estimate for the time-dependent thermal nucleosynthesis of ${}^{180}$Ta${}^m$
• MeV Gamma Rays from Fission: A Distinct Signature of Actinide Production in Neutron Star Mergers
• Novel Penning-trap techniques reveal isomeric states in ${}^{128}$In and ${}^{130}$In for the first time
• The impact of isomers on a kilonova associated with neutron star mergers
• Treatment of isomers in nucleosynthesis codes
• New s-process path and its implication to 187Re-187Os nucleo-cosmochronometer
• Properties of 187Ta revealed through isomeric decay
• Effective Stellar $\beta$-Decay Rates of Nuclei with Long-lived Isomers: ${}^{26}$Al and ${}^{34}$Cl
• Nuclear Isomer Excitation in 229Th Atom by Super-Intense Laser Field
• Isochronic evolution and the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei

Cited by in corpus (14)

• Kilonovae across the nuclear physics landscape: The impact of nuclear physics uncertainties on r-process-powered emission
• Atlas of Nuclear Isomers -- Second Edition
• Nucleosynthesis and observation of the heaviest elements
• Isochronic evolution and the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei
• High-precision measurements of low-lying isomeric states in ${}^{120-124}$In with JYFLTRAP double Penning trap
• Alpha decay law of excited nuclei and its role in stellar decay rates
• Isomeric states of fission fragments explored via Penning trap mass spectrometry at IGISOL
• Precise Mass Measurements of $A=133$ Isobars with the Canadian Penning Trap: Resolving the $Q_{{\beta }^{-}}$ anomaly at ${}^{133}$Te
• How Do Nuclear Isomers Influence the Gamma-Ray Bursts in Binary Neutron Star Mergers?
• Nuclear data activities for medium mass and heavy nuclei at Los Alamos
• High-precision mass measurements of the ground and isomeric states in ${}^{124,125}$Ag
• Gamma-ray emission from decays of boosted nuclei in protomagnetar jets
• Sensitivity of Neutron-Rich Nuclear Isomer Behavior to Uncertainties in Direct Transitions
• Exploration for Astromers near ${}^{132}$Sn with the Canadian Penning Trap