The nu-process
- Lick Observatory, Santa Cruz, CA (USA) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA (USA) San Francisco State Univ., CA (USA) Washington Univ., Seattle (USA)
As the core of a massive star collapses to form a neutron star, the flux of neutrinos in the overlying shells of heavy elements becomes so great that, despite the small cross section, substantial nuclear transmutation is induced. Neutrinos excite heavy elements and even helium to particle unbound levels. The evaporation of a single neutron or proton, and the back reaction of these nucleons on other species present, significantly alters the outcome of traditional nucleosynthesis calculations leading to a new process: nu-nucleosynthesis. Modifications to traditional hydrostatic and explosive varieties of helium, carbon, neon, oxygen, and silicon burning are considered. The results show that a large number of rare isotopes, including many of the odd-Z nuclei from boron through copper, owe much of their present abundance in nature to this process. 112 refs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6644605
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal; (USA), Vol. 356; ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
STARS
NUCLEOSYNTHESIS
CARBON
COSMIC RADIATION
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
GRAVITATIONAL COLLAPSE
HELIUM
MASS
NEON
NEUTRINOS
NEUTRON STARS
OXYGEN
SILICON
STAR BURNING
STAR EVOLUTION
SUPERNOVAE
ABUNDANCE
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
ELEMENTS
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
FERMIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
LEPTONS
MASSLESS PARTICLES
NONMETALS
RADIATIONS
RARE GASES
SEMIMETALS
SYNTHESIS
VARIABLE STARS
640102* - Astrophysics & Cosmology- Stars & Quasi-Stellar
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