Nucleosynthesis and observation of the heaviest elements

Abstract

The rapid neutron capture or 'r process' of nucleosynthesis is believed to be responsible for the production of approximately half the natural abundance of heavy elements found on the periodic table above iron (with proton number $Z=26$) and all of the heavy elements above bismuth ($Z=83$). In the course of creating the actinides and potentially superheavies, the r process must necessarily synthesize superheavy nuclei (those with extreme proton numbers, neutron numbers or both) far from isotopes accessible in the laboratory. Many questions about this process remain unanswered, such as 'where in nature may this process occur?' and 'what are the heaviest species created by this process?' In this review, we survey at a high level the nuclear properties relevant for the heaviest elements thought to be created in the r process. We provide a synopsis of the production and destruction mechanisms of these heavy species, in particular the actinides and superheavies, and discuss these heavy elements in relation to the astrophysical r process. We review the observational evidence of actinides found in the Solar system and in metal-poor stars and comment on the prospective of observing heavy-element production in explosive astrophysical events. Finally, we discuss the possibility that future observations and laboratory experiments will provide new information in understanding the production of the heaviest elements.

arXiv comment63 pages, 17 figures

References in corpus (200)

• GW170817: Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Neutron Star Inspiral
• Nuclear Ground-State Masses and Deformations
• Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger
• Collapsars - Gamma-Ray Bursts and Explosions in "Failed Supernovae"
• Nuclear ground-state masses and deformations: FRDM(2012)
• Swope Supernova Survey 2017a (SSS17a), the Optical Counterpart to a Gravitational Wave Source
• Quantum Monte Carlo methods for nuclear physics
• Quantum Monte Carlo Calculations of $A\le 6$ Nuclei
• Supernovae, Jets, and Collapsars
• Origin of the Heaviest Elements: the Rapid Neutron-Capture Process
• Shell-model calculations of stellar weak interaction rates: II. Weak rates for nuclei in the mass range A=45-65 in supernovae environment
• Microscopic mass formulae
• Production of all the r-process nuclides in the dynamical ejecta of neutron star mergers
• Comprehensive nucleosynthesis analysis for ejecta of compact binary mergers
• Neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis of A>64 nuclei: The nu p-process
• On the astrophysical robustness of neutron star merger r-process
• Surface diffuseness correction in global mass formula
• Opacities and Spectra of the r-process Ejecta from Neutron Star Mergers
• The endpoint of the rp process on accreting neutron stars
• The Extremely Metal-Poor, Neutron-Capture-Rich Star CS 22892-052: A Comprehensive Abundance Analysis
• Status and Future of Nuclear Matrix Elements for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay: A Review
• Abundances of the elements in the solar system
• R-Process Nucleosynthesis in Dynamically Ejected Matter of Neutron Star Mergers
• Nuclear Energy Density Optimization
• Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov nuclear mass formulas: Crossing the 0.6 MeV threshold with microscopically deduced pairing
• Identification of strontium in the merger of two neutron stars
• The impact of individual nuclear properties on $r$-process nucleosynthesis
• Kilonovae
• Nuclear energy density optimization: Large deformations
• Binary Neutron Star Mergers: Mass Ejection, Electromagnetic Counterparts and Nucleosynthesis
• The Birth of a Galaxy: Primordial Metal Enrichment and Stellar Populations
• The Skyrme Interaction in finite nuclei and nuclear matter
• Shell Structure of the Superheavy Elements
• Collapsars as a major source of r-process elements
• Dynamical Mass Ejection from Binary Neutron Star Mergers
• Spectroscopic Studies of Extremly Metal-Poor Stars with Subaru/HDS:II.The r-process Elements, Including Thorium
• Detailed Abundances for 28 Metal-poor Stars: Stellar Relics in the Milky Way
• The Chemical Composition and Age of the Metal-Poor Halo Star BD +17^\circ 3248
• Where, oh where has the r-process gone?
• Large scale evaluation of beta-decay rates of r-process nuclei with the inclusion of first-forbidden transitions
• The long-term evolution of neutron star merger remnants - I. The impact of r-process nucleosynthesis
• Global performance of covariant energy density functionals: ground state observables of even-even nuclei and the estimate of theoretical uncertainties
• Discovery of HE 1523-0901, a Strongly r-Process Enhanced Metal-Poor Star with Detected Uranium
• r-Process Lanthanide Production and Heating Rates in Kilonovae
• R-Process Abundances and Chronometers in Metal-Poor Stars
• The Origin of r-Process Elements in the Milky Way
• Brownian shape motion on five-dimensional potential-energy surfaces: Nuclear fission-fragment mass distributions
• The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope II. Multi-object spectroscopy (MOS)
• Current Status of r-Process Nucleosynthesis
• Further improvements on a global nuclear mass model
• Nuclear energy density optimization: Shell structure
• Unified ab initio approaches to nuclear structure and reactions
• The Role of Fission in Neutron Star Mergers and its Impact on the r-Process Peaks
• r-Process Nucleosynthesis in Hot Accretion Disk Flows from Black Hole - Neutron Star Mergers
• Galactic evolution of rapid neutron capture process abundances: the inhomogeneous approach
• Full Transport Model of GW170817-Like Disk Produces a Blue Kilonova
• Nucleosynthesis in the Outflow from Gamma Ray Burst Accretion Disks
• Tuning the Clock: Uranium and Thorium Chronometers Applied to CS 31082-001
• Superheavy Nuclei in the Relativistic Mean Field Theory
• On r-process nucleosynthesis from matter ejected in binary neutron starmergers
• New fission fragment distributions and r-process origin of the rare-earth elements
• One-quasiparticle States in the Nuclear Energy Density Functional Theory
• r-Process Nucleosynthesis: Connecting Rare-Isotope Beam Facilities with the Cosmos
• New limit of ${}^{244}$Pu on Earth points to rarity of actinide nucleosynthesis
• The $R$-Process Alliance: First Release from the Southern Search for $r$-Process-Enhanced Stars in the Galactic Halo
• Mirror nuclei constraint in mass formula
• Shell Model Study of the Neutron-Rich Nuclei around N=28
• Detection of Elements at All Three r-process Peaks in the Metal-Poor Star HD 160617
• Direct mapping of nuclear shell effects in the heaviest elements
• Dynamical r-process studies within the neutrino-driven wind scenario and its sensitivity to the nuclear physics input
• New Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Heavy Elements in Four Metal-Poor Stars
• The R-Process Alliance: First Release from the Northern Search for r-Process Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars in the Galactic Halo
• Charge radii of exotic potassium isotopes challenge nuclear theory and the magic character of $N=32$
• Five-Dimensional Fission-Barrier Calulations from Se-70 to Cf-252
• JINAbase: A database for chemical abundances of metal-poor stars
• Mass ejection from neutron star mergers: different components and expected radio signals
• Astronuclear Physics: a Tale of the Atomic Nuclei in the Skies
• HST Observations of Heavy Elements in Metal-Poor Galactic Halo Stars
• The r-process in the neutrino winds of core-collapse supernovae and U-Th cosmochronology
• Radioactive nuclei from cosmochronology to habitability
• Neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering as a probe of neutron density distributions
• r-Process Calculations and Galactic Chemical Evolution
• Predictions of Alpha Decay Half lives of Heavy and Superheavy Elements
• Shell-model half-lives for the N=82 nuclei and their implications for the r-process
• Fission-fragment mass distributions from strongly damped shape evolution
• Fingerprints of heavy element nucleosynthesis in the late-time lightcurves of kilonovae
• Theory of Nuclear Fission
• Impact of nuclear mass uncertainties on the $r$-process
• Search for long lived heaviest nuclei beyond the valley of stability
• Global description of beta-minus decay in even-even nuclei with the axially-deformed Skyrme finite amplitude method
• First stars XVI. STIS/HST abundances of heavy-elements in the uranium-rich star CS 31082-001
• Global Description of Beta Decay with the Axially-Deformed Skyrme Finite Amplitude Method: Extension to Odd-Mass and Odd-Odd Nuclei
• The Hamburg/ESO R-process Enhanced Star survey (HERES) XI. The highly $r$-process-enhanced star CS 29497-004
• Fission properties for r-process nuclei
• Kilonovae across the nuclear physics landscape: The impact of nuclear physics uncertainties on r-process-powered emission
• The impact of individual nuclear masses on $r$-process abundances
• Modeling Kilonova Light Curves: Dependence on Nuclear Inputs
• Relative contributions of the weak, main and fission-recycling r-process
• Californium-254 and kilonova light curves
• Properties of heaviest nuclei with $98\le Z\le 126$ and $134\le N\le 192$
• Using excitation-energy dependent fission yields to identify key fissioning nuclei in r-process nucleosynthesis
• Predicting the production of neutron rich heavy nuclei in multi-nucleon transfer reactions using GRAZING-F
• $\beta$-delayed fission in $r$-process nucleosynthesis
• The R-Process Alliance: 2MASS J09544277+5246414, the Most Actinide-Enhanced R-II Star Known
• Have Superheavy Elements been Produced in Nature?
• Full Transport General Relativistic Radiation Magnetohydrodynamics for Nucleosynthesis in Collapsars
• The Influence of Neutrinos on r-Process Nucleosynthesis in the Ejecta of Black Hole-Neutron Star Mergers
• Actinide Production in Neutron-Rich Ejecta of a Neutron Star Merger
• Fission Fragment Decay Simulations with the CGMF Code
• The Hamburg/ESO R-process Enhanced Star survey (HERES) X. HE 2252-4225, one more r-process enhanced and actinide-boost halo star
• Statistical Hauser-Feshbach theory with width fluctuation correction including direct reaction channels for neutron induced reaction at low energies
• Microscopic study of induced fission dynamics of ${}^{226}$Th with covariant energy density functionals
• Are There Any Stars Lacking Neutron-Capture Elements? Evidence from Strontium and Barium
• Matter Neutrino Resonance Transitions above a Neutron Star Merger Remnant
• Monte-Carlo neutrino transport in neutron star merger simulations
• Mass measurements beyond the major r-process waiting point 80Zn
• Viscous-Dynamical Ejecta from Binary Neutron Star Merger
• Dependence of direct neutron capture on nuclear-structure models
• RAVE J203843.2-002333: The first highly r-process-enhanced star identified in the RAVE survey
• Impact of tensor force on β-decay of magic and semi-magic nuclei
• First direct mass measurements of nuclides around $Z=100$ with a Multireflection Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrograph
• Adiabatic fission barriers in superheavy nuclei
• Nuclear Fission Dynamics: Past, Present, Needs, and Future
• Primary fission fragment mass yields across the chart of nuclides
• The first determination of the actinide Th abundance for a red giant of the Ursa Minor dwarf galaxy
• Neutron-gamma competition for $\beta$-delayed neutron emission
• Microscopic description of production cross sections including deexcitation effects
• Recent breakthroughs in Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mass formulas
• From actinides to zinc: Using the full abundance pattern of the brightest star in Reticulum II to distinguish between different r-process sites
• Origin of uranium isotope variations in early solar nebula condensates
• Precision mass measurements on neutron-rich rare-earth isotopes at JYFLTRAP - reduced neutron pairing and implications for the $r$-process calculations
• Competition of electron capture and beta-decay rates in supernova collapse
• High-resolution, accurate MR-TOF-MS for short-lived, exotic nuclei of few events in their ground and low-lying isomeric states
• Fission properties of the BCPM functional
• Fission fragments intrinsic spins and their correlations
• Impact of $(\alpha ,n)$ reactions on weak r-process in neutrino-driven winds
• Black hole-neutron star mergers are unlikely multi-messenger sources
• 129I and 247Cm in Meteorites Constrain the Last Astrophysical Source of Solar r-process Elements
• Estimation of M1 scissors mode strength for deformed nuclei in the medium to heavy mass region by statistical Hauser-Feshbach model calculations
• Mass measurements of 99-101In challenge ab initio nuclear theory of the nuclide 100Sn
• A brief overview of black hole-neutron star mergers
• Angular Momentum of Fission Fragments from Microscopic Theory
• Beta decay of deformed r-process nuclei near A = 80 and A= 160, including odd-A and odd-odd nuclei, with the Skyrme finite-amplitude method
• Actinide-rich and Actinide-poor $r$-Process Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars do not Require Separate $r$-Process Progenitors
• Time-dependent generator coordinate method study of mass-asymmetric fission of actinides
• Gamma-rays from kilonova: a potential probe of r-process nucleosynthesis
• Study of angular momentum effects in fission
• Propagation of Statistical Uncertainties of Skyrme Mass Models to Simulations of $r$-Process Nucleosynthesis
• Fission and the r-process nucleosynthesis of translead nuclei in neutron star mergers
• Probing the production of actinides under different r-process conditions
• Extension of the Hauser-Feshbach Fission Fragment Decay Model to Multi-Chance Fission
• Neutrino Interactions in the Outflow from Gamma-Ray Burst Accretion Disks
• Stochastic Chemical Evolution of Galactic Subhalos and the Origin of r-Process Elements
• Microscopic Description of Super Heavy Nuclei
• Mass Measurements Demonstrate a Strong N =28 Shell Gap in Argon
• Astromers in the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei
• Actinide opacities for modeling the spectra and light curves of kilonovae
• Microscopically-based energy density functionals for nuclei using the density matrix expansion: Full optimization and validation
• Testing the importance of collective correlations in neutrinoless $\beta \beta$ decay
• A Method to Calculate Fission-Fragment Yields $Y(Z,N)$ versus Proton and Neutron Number in the Brownian Shape-Motion Model. Application to calculations of U and Pu charge yields
• Microscopic description of fission in superheavy nuclei with the parametrization D1M${}^{\ast }$ of the Gogny energy density functional
• Following nuclei through nucleosynthesis: a novel tracing technique
• Microscopic Calculation of Fission Product Yields with Particle Number Projection
• Chemical Abundances for Evolved Stars in M5: Lithium through Thorium
• First application of mass measurement with the Rare-RI Ring reveals the solar r-process abundance trend at A=122 and A=123
• $\beta$-Decay Half-Lives of 55 Neutron-Rich Isotopes beyond the N=82 Shell Gap
• Nucleosynthesis of Nickel-56 from Gamma-Ray Burst Accretion Disks
• Constraining nucleosynthesis in neutrino-driven winds: observations, simulations and nuclear physics
• MeV Gamma Rays from Fission: A Distinct Signature of Actinide Production in Neutron Star Mergers
• Exploring the mass surface near the rare-earth abundance peak via precision mass measurements at JYFLTRAP
• Discovery of the actinium, thorium, protactinium, and uranium isotopes
• Thorium in solar twins: implications for habitability in rocky planets
• First Exploration of Neutron Shell Structure Below Lead and Beyond $\mathbf{N}=126$
• Formation of neutron-rich and superheavy elements in astrophysical objects
• Precision mass measurements of ${}^{125-127}$Cd isotopes and isomers approaching the $N=82$ closed shell
• Radiogenic Heating and its Influence on Rocky Planet Dynamos and Habitability
• r-Process Radioisotopes from Near-Earth Supernovae and Kilonovae
• Microscopic description of fission in odd-mass uranium and plutonium nuclei with the Gogny energy density functional
• The age of the Galactic thin disk from Th/Eu nucleocosmochronology I. Determination of [Th/Eu] abundance ratios
• Evidence for an Intense Neutrino Flux during $r$-Process Nucleosynthesis?
• Hauser-Feshbach fission fragment de-excitation with calculated macroscopic-microscopic mass yields
• The Origin of the Heaviest Metals in Most Ultra-Faint Dwarf Galaxies
• Non-perturbative collective inertias for fission: a comparative study
• Trans-iron Ge, As, Se, and heavier elements in the dwarf metal-poor stars, HD~19445, HD~84937, HD~94028, HD~140283, and HD~160617
• Mass Measurements of Neutron-Rich Gallium Isotopes Refine Production of Nuclei of the First r-Process Abundance Peak in Neutron Star Merger Calculations
• The link between rare earth peak formation and the astrophysical site of the $r$ process
• Markov Chain Monte Carlo Predictions of Neutron-rich Lanthanide Properties as a Probe of $r$-process Dynamics
• Improvements to the macroscopic-microscopic approach of nuclear fission
• Empirical description of beta-delayed fission partial half-lives
• Deformation and shell effects in nuclear mass formulas
• Precision Mass Measurements of Neutron-Rich Co Isotopes Beyond N=40
• A new precision measurement of the α-decay half-life of 190Pt
• Isochronic evolution and the radioactive decay of r-process nuclei
• Gamma-ray Diagnostics of r-process Nucleosynthesis in the Remnants of Galactic Binary Neutron-Star Mergers
• Pairing and nonaxial-shape correlations in $N=150$ isotones
• Microscopic mass estimations
• Tensor force effect on the neutron shell closure in super-heavy elements
• The need for a local nuclear physics feature in the neutron-rich rare-earths to explain solar $r$-process abundances
• Nuclear Matrix Elements for Double-Beta Decay
• Natural superheavy nuclei in astrophysical data

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Superheavy Elements in Kilonovae
• Generating and grading 34 Optimized Norm-Conserving Vanderbilt Pseudopotentials for Actinides and Super Heavy Elements in the PseudoDojo
• Alpha decay law of excited nuclei and its role in stellar decay rates
• Ternary fission with the emission of long-range $\alpha$ particles in fission of the heaviest nuclei
• Magnetic Field Strength Effects on Nucleosynthesis from Neutron Star Merger Outflows
• Black Hole-Neutron Star Binaries near Neutron Star Disruption Limit in the Mass Regime of Event GW230529
• Nuclear Reactions in Evolving Stars
• Distribution of Europium in The Milky Way Disk; Its Connection to Planetary Habitability and The Source of The R-Process
• Impact of microscopic structural transitions on particle stability and lifetimes of hot nuclei