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Register a new userThe sensitivity of r-process nucleosynthesis to the properties of neutron-rich nuclei
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About half of the heavy elements in the Solar System were created by rapid neutron capture, or r-process, nucleosynthesis. In the r-process, heavy elements are built up via a sequence of neutron captures and beta decays in which an intense neutron flux pushes material out towards the neutron drip line. The nuclear network simulations used to test potential astrophysical scenarios for the r-process therefore require nuclear physics data (masses, beta decay lifetimes, neutron capture rates, fission probabilities) for thousands of nuclei far from stability. Only a small fraction of this data has been experimentally measured. Here we discuss recent sensitivity studies that aim to determine the nuclei whose properties are most crucial for r-process calculations.
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Simulations of r-process nucleosynthesis require nuclear physics information for thousands of neutron-rich nuclear species from the line of stability to the neutron drip line. While arguably the most important pieces of nuclear data for the r-process are the masses and beta decay rates, individual neutron capture rates can also be of key importance in setting the final r-process abundance pattern. Here we consider the influence of neutron capture rates in forming the A~80 and rare earth peaks.
The rapid neutron capture process (r-process) is thought to be responsible for the creation of more than half of all elements beyond iron. The scientific challenges to understanding the origin of the heavy elements beyond iron lie in both the uncertainties associated with astrophysical conditions that are needed to allow an r-process to occur and a vast lack of knowledge about the properties of nuclei far from stability. There is great global competition to access and measure the most exotic nuclei that existing facilities can reach, while simultaneously building new, more powerful accelerators to make even more exotic nuclei. This work is an attempt to determine the most crucial nuclear masses to measure using an r-process simulation code and several mass models (FRDM, Duflo-Zuker, and HFB-21). The most important nuclear masses to measure are determined by the changes in the resulting r-process abundances. Nuclei around the closed shells near N=50, 82, and 126 have the largest impact on r-process abundances irrespective of the mass models used.
In rapid neutron capture, or r-process, nucleosynthesis, heavy elements are built up via a sequence of neutron captures and beta decays that involves thousands of nuclei far from stability. Though we understand the basics of how the r-process proceeds, its astrophysical site is still not conclusively known. The nuclear network simulations we use to test potential astrophysical scenarios require nuclear physics data (masses, beta decay lifetimes, neutron capture rates, fission probabilities) for all of the nuclei on the neutron-rich side of the nuclear chart, from the valley of stability to the neutron drip line. Here we discuss recent sensitivity studies that aim to determine which individual pieces of nuclear data are the most crucial for r-process calculations. We consider three types of astrophysical scenarios: a traditional hot r-process, a cold r-process in which the temperature and density drop rapidly, and a neutron star merger trajectory.
Multimessenger observations of the neutron star merger event GW170817 have re-energized the debate over the astrophysical origins of the most massive elements via the r-process nucleosynthesis. A key aspect of such studies is comparing astronomical observations to theoretical nucleosynthesis yields in a meaningful way. To perform realistic nucleosynthesis calculations, understanding the uncertainty in microphysics details such as nuclear reaction rates is as essential as understanding uncertainties in modeling the astrophysical environment. We present an investigation of neutron capture rate calculations uncertainty away from stability using the Hauser-Feshbach model. We provide a quantitative measure of the calculations dependability when we extrapolate models of statistical properties to nuclei in an r-process network. We select several level density and gamma-ray strength models appropriate for neutron-capture and use them to calculate the reaction rate for each nucleus in the network. We observe how statistical properties affect the theoretical reaction rates. The rates are then sampled with the Monte Carlo technique and used in network calculations to map the range of possible r-process abundances. The results show that neutron capture rates can vary by a couple of orders of magnitude between calculations. Phenomenological models provide smoother results than semi-microscopic. They cannot, however, reproduce nuclear structure changes such as shell closures. While semi-microscopic models predict nuclear structure effects away from stability, it is not clear that these results are quantitatively accurate. The effect of the uncertainty on r-process yields is large enough to impede comparisons between observation and calculations. Progress in developing better microscopic models of gamma strengths and level densities is urgently needed to improve the fidelity of r-process models.
We review the impact of nuclear forces on matter at neutron-rich extremes. Recent results have shown that neutron-rich nuclei become increasingly sensitive to three-nucleon forces, which are at the forefront of theoretical developments based on effective field theories of quantum chromodynamics. This includes the formation of shell structure, the spectroscopy of exotic nuclei, and the location of the neutron dripline. Nuclear forces also constrain the properties of neutron-rich matter, including the neutron skin, the symmetry energy, and the structure of neutron stars. We first review our understanding of three-nucleon forces and show how chiral effective field theory makes unique predictions for many-body forces. Then, we survey results with three-nucleon forces in neutron-rich oxygen and calcium isotopes and neutron-rich matter, which have been explored with a range of many-body methods. Three-nucleon forces therefore provide an exciting link between theoretical, experimental and observational nuclear physics frontiers.
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