Recent Progress in the Understanding of the r-Process
| dc.creator | Qian, Yong-Zhong | |
| dc.date | 2008-09-16 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-07T10:03:27Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-07-07T10:03:27Z | |
| dc.description | A brief overview of the r-process is given with an emphasis on the observational implications for this process. The conditions required for the major production of the heavy r-process elements (r-elements) with mass numbers A >130 are discussed based on a generic astrophysical model where matter adiabatically expands from a hot and dense initial state. Nucleosynthesis in the neutrino-driven winds from nascent neutron stars is discussed as a specific example. Such winds readily produce the elements from Sr to Ag with A ~ 88 to 110 through charged-particle reactions in the alpha-process but appear incapable of making the heavy r-elements. Observations of elemental abundances in metal-poor stars have provided many valuable insights into the r-process. They have demonstrated that the production of the heavy r-elements must be associated with massive stars evolving on short timescales, provided evidence strongly favoring core-collapse supernovae over neutron star mergers as the major source for these elements, and shown that this source cannot produce any significant amount of the low-A elements from Na to Ge including Fe. A self-consistent astrophysical model of the r-process remains to be developed, and it appears well worthwhile to carry out more comprehensive studies on the evolution and explosion of the massive stars of ~ 8 to 11 M_sun that undergo O-Ne-Mg core collapse and produce a very insignificant amount of the low-A elements. | |
| dc.description | 9 pages, 4 figures, invited talk given at the 10th Symposium on Nuclei in the Cosmos | |
| dc.identifier | https://arxiv.org/abs/0809.2826 | |
| dc.identifier | http://arxiv.org/abs/0809.2826 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/169294 | |
| dc.subject | Astrophysics | |
| dc.title | Recent Progress in the Understanding of the r-Process | |
| dc.type | text |