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Synthesis of the Elements in Stars: Forty Years of Progress

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Synthesis of the Elements in Stars: Forty Years of Progress Synthesis of the elements in stars: forty years of progress George Wallerstein Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 Icko Iben, Jr. University of Illinois, 1002 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801 Peter Parker Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8124 Ann Merchant Boesgaard Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 Gerald M. Hale Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544 Arthur E. Champagne University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27594 and Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27706 Charles A. Barnes California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 Franz Ka¨ppeler Forschungzentrum, Karlsruhe, D-76021, Germany Verne V. Smith University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968-0515 Robert D. Hoffman Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 Frank X. Timmes University of California at Santa Cruz, California 95064 Chris Sneden University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 Richard N. Boyd Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 Bradley S. Meyer Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29630 David L. Lambert University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712 (Received 25 June 1997) Forty years ago Burbidge, Burbidge, Fowler, and Hoyle combined what we would now call fragmentary evidence from nuclear physics, stellar evolution and the abundances of elements and isotopes in the solar system as well as a few stars into a synthesis of remarkable ingenuity. Their review provided a foundation for forty years of research in all of the aspects of low energy nuclear experiments and theory, stellar modeling over a wide range of mass and composition, and abundance studies of many hundreds of stars, many of which have shown distinct evidence of the processes suggested by B2FH. In this review we summarize progress in each of these fields with emphasis on the most recent developments. [S0034-6861(97)00204-3] Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 69, No. 4, October 1997 0034-6861/97/69(4)/995(90)/$23.50 © 1997 The American Physical Society 995 996 Wallerstein et al.: Synthesis of the elements CONTENTS A. Triple-a capture 1020 B. a112C capture 1021 1. E1 capture 1021 I. Preface by E. Margaret Burbidge, Geoffrey R. a. Direct measurements 1021 Burbidge, and Fred Hoyle 997 b. b-delayed a spectrum from the decay of II. Introduction by George Wallerstein 998 16N 1022 2 A. The cosmological foundations of B FH 998 2. E2 capture 1022 B. The astronomical background in 1957 998 3. Other analyses and recommended values 1023 C. The eight processes 998 VII. H Burning in the NeSi Region: Laboratory Studies 1. Hydrogen burning 998 by Arthur E. Champagne 1024 2. Helium burning 999 A. Introduction 1024 3. The a process 999 B. Experimental approaches 1024 4. The e process 999 C. The neon-sodium cycle at low temperatures 1025 5. The s process 999 1. Reaction rates 1025 6. The r process 999 2. Network calculations 1026 7. The p process 999 D. The magnesium-aluminum cycle at low 8. The x process 999 temperatures 1027 D. Neutrino astrophysics 1000 1. Reaction rates 1027 1. The solar neutrino problem 1000 2. Network calculations 1028 2. Other aspects of neutrino astrophysics 1000 E. High-temperature behavior 1029 E. Related reviews 1001 1. Reaction rates 1029 III. Stellar Evolution by Icko Iben, Jr. 1001 2. Network calculations 1029 A. Historical preliminary 1001 F. Conclusion 1030 B. Evolution of single stars that become white VIII. Observational Evidence of Hydrogen Burning by dwarfs 1001 George Wallerstein 1030 1. Overview 1001 A. CN cycle and mixing 1031 2. Nucleosynthesis and dredge-up prior to the B. O depletion and the enhancement of Na and Al 1032 AGB phase 1003 C. Origin of the Na and Al enhancements 1033 3. Nucleosynthesis and dredge-up during the IX. Carbon, Neon, Oxygen, and Silicon Burning by AGB phase 1004 Charles A. Barnes 1034 4. The born-again AGB phenomenon 1006 A. Introduction 1034 5. Other mixing processes, and wind mass loss, B. Carbon burning 1035 which affect surface composition 1007 C. Neon burning 1036 C. Evolution of massive single stars that produce D. Oxygen burning 1036 neutron stars or black holes 1007 E. Silicon burning 1036 D. Close binary star evolution 1009 X. s Process: Laboratory Studies and Stellar Models by 1. Modes of mass transfer and of orbital angular Franz Ka¨ppeler 1038 momentum loss 1009 A. The s process since B2FH 1038 2. Scenario modeling 1009 B. Laboratory experiments 1038 a. Cataclysmic variables and novae 1010 1. Neutron capture cross sections 1038 b. White dwarf mergers: R CrB stars and 2. Stellar b decay 1039 type Ia supernovae 1010 C. The canonical s process 1040 c. X ray binaries and pulsars 1012 1. The sN curve 1040 IV. Hydrogen Burning in the pp Chain and CN Cycle 2. Branchings 1041 by Peter Parker 1013 XI. Observations of the s Process by Verne V. Smith 1042 1 A. The p(p,e ne)d reaction 1013 A. Brief history 1042 B. The 3He(3He,2p)4He reaction 1013 B. Observations of nucleosynthesis and mixing in C. The 3He(a,g) 7Be reaction 1014 CH, Ba, S, and C stars 1043 D. The 7Be(p,g) 8B reaction 1015 C. The s process as a function of metallicity 1043 E. The 7Li(n,g)8Li reaction 1015 D. Rubidium and the s-process neutron density 1045 F. The 14N(p,g)15O reaction 1015 E. Recent models: Radiative burning of 13C during G. The 17O(p,a)14N reaction 1016 the AGB interpulse phase 1046 H. The Hot CNO cycle 1016 XII. The r Process by Robert D. Hoffman and Frank X. V. The x Process by Ann Merchant Boesgaard 1016 Timmes 1047 A. Introduction and retrospective 1016 A. Introduction 1047 B. Abundances 1016 B. A search for the astrophysical site 1047 1. Lithium 1017 C. Early model results, from conflict to clarity 1048 2. Beryllium 1018 D. Twisting in the wind 1049 3. Boron 1018 E. Concluding remarks 1049 C. Nonlocal thermodynamic-equilibrium effects 1019 XIII. Observations of the r Process by Chris Sneden 1050 D. Production mechanisms 1019 A. Defining the r-process elements 1050 1. Big Bang 1019 B. Early r-process discoveries 1051 2. Spallation 1019 C. Recent r-process surveys 1051 3. Asymptotic giant branch stars 1019 D. Thorium and the age of the halo and disk 1053 4. Supernovae 1020 E. Filling out the picture 1054 VI. Helium Burning by Gerald M. Hale 1020 XIV. The p Process by Richard N. Boyd 1054 Rev. Mod. Phys., Vol. 69, No. 4, October 1997 Wallerstein et al.: Synthesis of the elements 997 A. The p process 1054 ing that temperatures vastly higher than those that B. Early p-process models 1055 seemed plausible in Eddington’s day might be possible. C. The g process 1055 The fact that primordial nucleosynthesis ran far ahead D. The rp process 1057 E. The n process 1058 of stellar nucleosynthesis in the years up to the early F. Recent developments 1058 1950s turned out to be advantageous to the eventual 2 G. Summary 1059 emergence of the B FH paper in 1957, because it per- XV. The e Process and the Iron-Group Nuclei by mitted facts to accumulate quietly without any frenzied Bradley S. Meyer 1059 circus developing. In 1952, Salpeter discussed the stellar A. Energetics and equilibria 1059 formation of carbon from alpha particles, and a few B. Statistical equilibrium 1060 months later the relation of carbon synthesis to oxygen C. A brief history of the ideas of iron-group synthesis was shown to require a state in the carbon element synthesis 1063 D. Significance for astrophysics 1065 nucleus of about 7.65 MeV above ground level. When XVI. Carbon Stars: Where Theory Meets Observations this state was actually found, the laboratory discovery by David L. Lambert 1066 carried a strong measure of conviction for all those who A. Prologue 1066 were involved in it. B. Carbon stars—An observer’s view 1066 At the same time surveys of nearby stars by several 1. What is a carbon-rich star? 1066 groups, including some of us, were showing variations of 2. What makes a carbon-rich star? 1067 metal abundances to hydrogen, the beginning of the 3. The principal types of carbon-rich stars 1068 concept of metallicity, that seemed impossible to associ- a. R-type carbon stars 1068 ate with some form of universal synthesis. We were also b. N-type carbon stars 1069 puzzled by our 1953–54 analysis of high-dispersion spec- c. Barium and related stars 1070 tra obtained at McDonald Observatory, which showed C. Epilogue 1071 XVII. Conclusions 1071 strange overabundances of some heavy elements and Acknowledgments 1072 seemed to indicate that neutrons were involved. And in References 1072 1953–54, carbon-burning and oxygen-burning were found. It was in the autumn of 1954 that the team of B 2FH I. PREFACE came together in the quiet ambience of Cambridge, En- gland, without, as mentioned above, any frenzied circus It is curious that both the primordial and stellar theo- developing. ries of the origin of the elements should have been pub- During 1954–55 calculations involving neutron pro- lished in the same year, 1946. Little notice was at first duction in the interiors of evolved stars with helium- taken of the stellar theory, attention being directed at burning cores surrounded by a hydrogen-burning shell first overwhelmingly to Gamow’s suggestion of associat- were followed by calculations on neutron addition to ing nucleosynthesis with the origin of the Universe. elements from neon to scandium.
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