Abstract
We give an overview of explosive burning and the role which neutron and/or proton separation energies play. We focus then on the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) which encounters unstable nuclei with neutron separation energies in the range 1-4 MeV, and the rapid proton capture process (rp-process), operating close to the proton drip-line. The site of the rp-process is related to hydrogen accreting neutron stars in binary stellar systems. Explosive II-burning produces nuclei as heavy as A=100, powering events observable as X-ray bursts. The r-process abundances witness nuclear structure far from beta-stability as well as the conditions in the appropriate astrophysical environment. But there is a remaining lack in the full understanding of its astrophysical origin, ranging from the high entropy neutrino wind, blown from hot neutron star surfaces after a supernova explosion, to low entropy "cold decompresssion" of neutron star matter ejected in mergers of binary neutron star systems.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3503-3513 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Acta Physica Polonica B |
Volume | 29 |
Issue number | 11 |
Publication status | Published - Nov 1998 |
Event | MESON'98 Conference on the Structure of Mesons, Baryons and Nuclei - KRAKOW, Poland Duration: 26 May 1998 → 2 Jun 1998 |
Keywords
- STAR MATTER
- APPROXIMATION
- NOVAE
- QUASI-EQUILIBRIUM
- R-PROCESS
- GAMMA-RAY BURSTS
- DECOMPRESSION
- MODELS
- NUCLEAR-MASS FORMULA
- NEUTRINO-DRIVEN WINDS