Neutrino-induced nucleosynthesis in supernovae: synthesis of light elements and neutrino-driven r-process

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We report the results of our neutrino nucleosynthesis project that concern the neutrino-induced production of light and heavy elements in the helium shell of poor metal core collapse supernovae. The outer half of the helium shell is shown to be a good site to obtain the neutrino-driven weak component of the r-process up to A ≈ 130 and simultaneously to produce significant yields of the light elements such as 7Li and 11B. Special attention is given to an old idea that by means of the activation by shock heating reaction 13C(α, n)16O an enhanced amount of 13C in the helium shell could be an additional source of neutrons for the r-process. The main conclusion is that both the neutrino and 13C neutron sources can contribute to the r-process only for poor metal stars, the latter being active for rather strong explosions of energy ≳3 × 1051 erg. Contrary to the light elements, the r-process yields are strongly sensitive to the admixture of the neutron poisons such as 12C, 14N and 16O.