0000000000179073
AUTHOR
E. Kolbe
THE R-PROCESS: SUPERNOVAE AND OTHER SOURCES OF THE HEAVIEST ELEMENTS
Rapid neutron capture in stellar explosions is responsible for the heaviest elements in nature, up to Th , U and beyond. This nucleosynthesis process, the r-process, is unique in the sense that a combination of nuclear physics far from stability (masses, half-lives, neutron-capture and photodisintegration, neutron-induced and beta-delayed fission and last but not least neutrino-nucleus interactions) is intimately linked to ejecta from astrophysical explosions (core collapse supernovae or other neutron star related events). The astrophysics and nuclear physics involved still harbor many uncertainties, either in the extrapolation of nuclear properties far beyond present experimental explorat…
The Astrophysicalr‐Process: A Comparison of Calculations following Adiabatic Expansion with Classical Calculations Based on Neutron Densities and Temperatures
The rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) encounters unstable nuclei far from β-stability. Therefore its observable features, like the abundances, witness (still uncertain) nuclear structure as well as the conditions in the appropriate astrophysical environment. With the remaining lack of a full understanding of its astrophysical origin, parameterized calculations are still needed. We consider two approaches: (1) the classical approach is based on (constant) neutron number densities nn and temperatures T over duration timescales τ; (2) recent investigations, motivated by the neutrino wind scenario from hot neutron stars after a supernova explosion, followed the expansion of matter with …
Muonic radioactive atoms - a unique probe for nuclear structure
Muonic atoms have been a source of high-precision experimental nuclear structure data for decades, through muonic X-rays that yield information on nuclear charge distributions. The intense driver beams for production of radioactive beams in so-called second generation facilities will simultaneously be capable of producing unprecedented amounts of low-energy muons. This paper concerns some of the potential synergies of combining unions with radioactive nuclei. as one possible new tool to be used at future RIB facilities. As a case study, muonic capture rates into highly excited states in Ni-78 have been calculated.
Heavy Elements and Age Determinations
The age of the universe, measured from the Big Bang to the present, is at the focus of cosmology. Its determination relies, however, on the use of stellar objects or their products. Stellar explosions, like type Ia supernovae serve as standard(izable) candles to measure the expansion of the universe. Hertzsprung—Russell diagrams of globular clusters can determine the age of such clusters and thus are lower limits of the age of the galaxy and therefore also the universe. Some nuclear isotopes with half-lives comparable to the age of galaxies (and the universe) can serve as clocks (chronometers) for the duration of nucleosynthesis. The isotopes 238U and 232Th with half-lives of 4.5 × l09 and …