On the origin of the heavy nuclei

Abstract

Nuclear formation processes and the conditions of their physical environment are investigated on the basis of the empirical abundance distribution of the nuclei. Three different abundance components of the heavy nuclei require very different physical conditions for their formation but appear genetically correlated. The component formed in a slow neutron capture chain indicates the pre-existence of the neutron-rich component, and of an iron abundance peak considerably smaller than found in the solar system. The neutron-rich and the proton-rich components seem to have been formed byβ-decay from progenitors which were produced at conditions of matter densityρ≈2×1010g/cm3 and of temperaturekT≈500keV, respectively.