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Actinide-rich and Actinide-poor r -process-enhanced Metal-poor Stars Do Not Require Separate r -process Progenitors

Journal Article · · The Astrophysical Journal (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics; Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), East Lansing, MI (United States)
  2. Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), East Lansing, MI (United States); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), East Lansing, MI (United States); North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States) Dept. of Physics
  4. Joint Inst. for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA), East Lansing, MI (United States); Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Theoretical Division
  5. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics
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The astrophysical production site of the heaviest elements in the universe remains a mystery. Incorporating heavy-element signatures of metal-poor, $$r$$-process-enhanced stars into theoretical studies of $$r$$-process production can offer crucial constraints on the origin of heavy elements. In this study, we introduce and apply the "actinide-dilution with matching" model to a variety of stellar groups, ranging from actinide-deficient to actinide-enhanced, to empirically characterize r-process ejecta mass as a function of electron fraction. We find that actinide-boost stars do not indicate the need for a unique and separate $$r$$-process progenitor. Rather, small variations of neutron richness within the same type of $$r$$-process event can account for all observed levels of actinide enhancements. The very low-$$Y_e$$ , fission-cycling ejecta of an $$r$$-process event need only constitute 10%–30% of the total ejecta mass to accommodate most actinide abundances of metal-poor stars. We find that our empirical $$Y_e$$ distributions of ejecta are similar to those inferred from studies of GW170817 mass ejecta ratios, which is consistent with neutron-star mergers being a source of the heavy elements in metal-poor, $$r$$-process-enhanced stars.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC). Nuclear Physics (NP) (SC-26)
Grant/Contract Number:
89233218CNA000001
OSTI ID:
1565905
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--19-23313
Journal Information:
The Astrophysical Journal (Online), Journal Name: The Astrophysical Journal (Online) Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 881; ISSN 1538-4357
Publisher:
Institute of Physics (IOP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (2)

r -process Enrichment in the Galactic Halo Characterized by Nucleosynthesis Variation in the Ejecta of Coalescing Neutron Star Binaries journal January 2020
r-Process enrichment in the Galactic halo characterized by nucleosynthesis variation in the ejecta of coalescing neutron star binaries text January 2019

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