Heavy R-nuclei Research Articles

SYSTEMATICS OF DYNAMICAL MASS EJECTION, NUCLEOSYNTHESIS, AND RADIOACTIVELY POWERED ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNALS FROM NEUTRON-STAR MERGERS

We investigate systematically the dynamical mass ejection, r-process nucleosynthesis, and properties of electromagnetic counterparts of neutron-star (NS) mergers in dependence on the uncertain properties of the nuclear equation of state (EoS) by employing 40 representative, microphysical high-density EoSs in relativistic, hydrodynamical simulations. The crucial parameter determining the ejecta mass is the radius R_1.35 of a 1.35 M_sun NS. NSs with smaller R_1.35 ("soft" EoS) eject systematically higher masses. These range from ~10^-3 M_sun to ~10^-2 M_sun for 1.35-1.35 M_sun binaries and from ~5*10^-3 M_sun to ~2*10^-2 M_sun for 1.2-1.5 M_sun systems (with kinetic energies between ~5*10^49 erg and 10^51 erg). Correspondingly, the bolometric peak luminosities of the optical transients of symmetric (asymmetric) mergers vary between 3*10^41 erg/s and 14*10^41 erg/s (9*10^41 erg/s and 14.5*10^41 erg/s) on timescales between ~2 h and ~12 h. If these signals with absolute bolometric magnitudes from -15.0 to -16.7 are measured, the tight correlation of their properties with those of the merging NSs might provide valuable constraints on the high-density EoS. The r-process nucleosynthesis exhibits a remarkable robustness independent of the EoS, producing a nearly solar abundance pattern above mass number 130. By the r-process content of the Galaxy and the average production per event the Galactic merger rate is limited to 4*10^-5/yr (4*10^-4/yr) for a soft (stiff) NS EoS, if NS mergers are the main source of heavy r-nuclei. The production ratio of radioactive 232Th to 238U attains a stable value of 1.64-1.67, which does not exclude NS mergers as potential sources of heavy r-material in the most metal-poor stars.

Chemical Evolution of Heavy Elements in the Early Galaxy: Implications for Stellar Sources

AbstractAn overview of the sources for heavy elements in the early Galaxy is given. It is shown that observations of abundances in metal-poor stars can be used along with a basic understanding of stellar models to guide the search for the source of the heavy r-process nuclei (r-nuclei). Observations show that this source produces very little of the elements from C through Zn, including Fe. This strongly suggests that O–Ne–Mg core-collapse supernovae (SNe) from progenitors of ∼8–11 M⊙ are the source for the heavy r-nuclei. It is shown that a two-component model based on the abundances of Fe (from Fe core-collapse SNe) and Eu (from O–Ne–Mg core-collapse SNe) gives very good quantitative predictions for the abundances of all the other elements in metal-poor stars.

Cold r -Process in Neutrino-driven Winds

The r-process in a low temperature environment is explored, in which the neutron emission by photodisintegration does not play a role (cold r-process). A semi-analytic neutrino-driven wind model is utilized for this purpose. The temperature in a supersonically expanding outflow can quickly drop to a few 10^8 K, where the (n, gamma)-(gamma, n) equilibrium is never achieved during the heavy r-nuclei synthesis. In addition, the neutron capture competes with the beta-decay owing to the low matter density. Despite such non-standard physical conditions for the cold r-process, a solar-like r-process abundance curve can be reproduced. The cold r-process predicts, however, the low lead production compared to that expected in the traditional r-process conditions, which can be a possible explanation for the low lead abundances found in a couple of r-process-rich Galactic halo stars.

Stellar Sources for Heavyr‐Process Nuclei

The stellar sites and the complete mechanism of r-process nucleosynthesis are still unresolved issues. From consideration of the observed abundances in metal-poor stars, it is proposed that the production of heavy r-process nuclei (r-nuclei with mass numbers A > 130) is not related to the production of Fe group elements or of elements with lower atomic numbers: Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, and Ti. This requires that the production of heavy r-nuclei not occur in supernovae with extended shell structure but be associated with either bare neutron stars or Type II supernovae (SNe II) in the mass range 8 M_☉ < M < 10 M_☉. From the observations of stars with [Fe/H] ~ -3 but with high abundances of r-elements, it is clear that these r-process enrichments cannot represent the composition of the interstellar medium from which the stars were formed but must represent very local contamination from binary companions. Further evidence for very high enrichments of s-process elements in metal-poor stars also requires binary systems for explanation. We propose that the accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of a white dwarf into a neutron star in a binary system may be associated with the production of heavy r-nuclei and may provide occasional coupling of high r-process and high s-process enrichments in the envelopes of low-mass stars with low [Fe/H]. If we assume that the bulk of the heavy r-nuclei are produced in AIC events, then these events would have produced ~1.6 × 109 neutron stars in the Galaxy. A much larger number of white dwarf binaries would have resulted from the evolution of other binary systems. The AIC scenario removes the assignment in our earlier model that SNe II provide the bulk of heavy r-nuclei and relegates r-process production in SNe II to light r-nuclei with A ≾ 130. This new assignment gives Fe yields that are in accord with the observed values for most SNe II.

Abundances in the Uranium-rich Star CS 31082-001

The recent discovery by Cayrel et al. of U in CS 31082-001 along with Os and Ir at greatly enhanced abundances but with [Fe/H] = -2.9 strongly reinforces the argument that there are at least two kinds of Type II supernova (SN II) sources for r-nuclei. One source is the high-frequency H events responsible for heavy r-nuclei (A > 135) but not Fe. The H-yields calculated from data on other ultra-metal-poor stars and the Sun provide a template for quantitatively predicting the abundances of all other r-elements. In CS 31082-001 these should show a significant deficiency at A < 135 relative to the solar r-pattern. It is proposed that CS 31082-001 should have had a companion that exploded as an SN II H event. If the binary survived the explosion, this star should now have a compact companion, most likely a stellar-mass black hole. Comparison of abundance data with predicted values and a search for a compact companion should provide a stringent test of the proposed r-process model. The U-Th age determined by Cayrel et al. for CS 31082-001 is, to within substantial uncertainties, in accord with the r-process age determined from solar system data. The time gap between the big bang and the onset of normal star formation allows r-process chronometers to provide only a lower limit on the age of the universe.