Nuclear Structure Studies at ISOLDE and their Impact on the Astrophysical r-Process

Abstract

The focus of the present review is the production of the heaviest elements in nature via the r-process. A correct understanding and modeling requires the knowledge of nuclear properties far from stability and a detailed prescription of the astrophysical environment. Experiments at CERN/ISOLDE have played a pioneering role in exploring the characteristics of nuclear structure in terms of masses and beta-decay properties. Initial examinations paid attention to far unstable nuclei with magic neutron numbers related to r-process peaks, while present activities are centered on the evolution of shell effects with the distance from the valley of stability. We first show in site-independent applications the effect of both types of nuclear properties on r-process abundances. Then, we explore the results of calculations related to two different `realistic' astrophysical sites, (i) the supernova neutrino wind and (ii) neutron star mergers. We close with a list of remaining theoretical and experimental challenges needed to overcome for a full understanding of the nature of the r-process, and the role CERN/ISOLDE can play in this process.

LATEX, 38 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Hyperfine Interactions

References in corpus (6)

• R-Process Abundances and Chronometers in Metal-Poor Stars
• Decay of neutron-rich Mn nuclides and deformation of heavy Fe isotopes
• An Active-Sterile Neutrino Transformation Solution for r-Process Nucleosynthesis
• Neutrino Capture and r-Process Nucleosynthesis
• Silicon Burning II: Quasi-Equilibrium and Explosive Burning
• The Reaction Rate Sensitivity of Nucleosynthesis in Type II Supernovae

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• Explorations of the r-Processes: Comparisons between Calculations and Observations of Low-Metallicity Stars
• Tuning the Clock: Uranium and Thorium Chronometers Applied to CS 31082-001
• Observation of new microsecond isomers among fission products of 345 MeV/nucleon 238U
• Half-lives and branchings for β-delayed neutron emission for neutron-rich Co-Cu isotopes in the r-process
• The r-process in the early Galaxy
• Element Synthesis in Stars
• The Impact of Recent Advances in Laboratory Astrophysics on our Understanding of the Cosmos
• A high-entropy wind r-process study based on nuclear-structure quantities from the new finite-range droplet model FRDM(2012)
• Core-coupled states and split proton-neutron quasi-particle multiplets in 122-126Ag
• Discovery of the Silver Isotopes
• Isomeric states of fission fragments explored via Penning trap mass spectrometry at IGISOL
• The strength of nuclear shell effects at N=126 in the r-process region