Arxiv:1901.01410V3 [Astro-Ph.HE] 1 Feb 2021 Mental Information Is Available, and One Has to Rely Strongly on Theoretical Predictions for Nuclear Properties
Origin of the heaviest elements: The rapid neutron-capture process John J. Cowan∗ HLD Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, 440 W. Brooks St., Norman, OK 73019, USA Christopher Snedeny Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, 2515 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712-1205, USA James E. Lawlerz Physics Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1150 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706-1390, USA Ani Aprahamianx and Michael Wiescher{ Department of Physics and Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA Karlheinz Langanke∗∗ GSI Helmholtzzentrum f¨urSchwerionenforschung, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany and Institut f¨urKernphysik (Theoriezentrum), Fachbereich Physik, Technische Universit¨atDarmstadt, Schlossgartenstraße 2, 64298 Darmstadt, Germany Gabriel Mart´ınez-Pinedoyy GSI Helmholtzzentrum f¨urSchwerionenforschung, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany; Institut f¨urKernphysik (Theoriezentrum), Fachbereich Physik, Technische Universit¨atDarmstadt, Schlossgartenstraße 2, 64298 Darmstadt, Germany; and Helmholtz Forschungsakademie Hessen f¨urFAIR, GSI Helmholtzzentrum f¨urSchwerionenforschung, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany Friedrich-Karl Thielemannzz Department of Physics, University of Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, 4056 Basel, Switzerland and GSI Helmholtzzentrum f¨urSchwerionenforschung, Planckstraße 1, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany (Dated: February 2, 2021) The production of about half of the heavy elements found in nature is assigned to a spe- cific astrophysical nucleosynthesis process: the rapid neutron capture process (r-process). Although this idea has been postulated more than six decades ago, the full understand- ing faces two types of uncertainties/open questions: (a) The nucleosynthesis path in the nuclear chart runs close to the neutron-drip line, where presently only limited experi- arXiv:1901.01410v3 [astro-ph.HE] 1 Feb 2021 mental information is available, and one has to rely strongly on theoretical predictions for nuclear properties.
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