15,176 research outputs found
Active-Sterile Neutrino Transformation and r-Process Nucleosynthesis
The type II supernova is considered as a candidate site for the production of
heavy elements. Since the supernova produces an intense neutrino flux, neutrino
scattering processes will impact element formation. We examine active-sterile
neutrino conversion in this environment and find that it may help to produce
the requisite neutron-to-seed ratio for synthesis of the r-process elements.Comment: 5 pages including 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the
Conference on the Intersections of Nuclear and Particle Physics 200
Nucleosynthesis in the Outflow from Gamma Ray Burst Accretion Disks
We examine the nucleosynthesis products that are produced in the outflow from
rapidly accreting disks. We find that the type of element synthesis varies
dramatically with the degree of neutrino trapping in the disk and therefore the
accretion rate of the disk. Disks with relatively high accretion rates such as
10 M_solar/s can produce very neutron rich nuclei that are found in the r
process. Disks with more moderate accretion rates can produce copious amounts
of Nickel as well as the light elements such as Lithium and Boron. Disks with
lower accretion rates such as 0.1 M_solar/s produce large amounts of Nickel as
well as some unusual nuclei such as Ti-49, Sc-45, Zn-64, and Mo-92. This wide
array of potential nucleosynthesis products is due to the varying influence of
electron neutrinos and antineutrinos emitted from the disk on the
neutron-to-proton ratio in the outflow. We use a parameterization for the
outflow and discuss our results in terms of entropy and outflow acceleration.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures; submitted to Ap
Neutrino Interactions in the Outflow from Gamma-Ray Burst Accretion Disks
We examine the composition of matter as it flows away from gamma ray burst
accretion disks, in order to determine what sort of nucleosynthesis may occur.
Since there is a large flux of neutrinos leaving the surface of the disk, the
electron fraction of the outflowing material will change due to charged current
neutrino interactions. We calculate the electron fraction in the wind using
detailed neutrino fluxes from every point on the disk and study a range of
trajectories and outflow conditions for several different accretion disk
models. We find that low electron fractions, conducive to making r-process
elements, only appear in outflows from disks with high accretion rates that
have a significant region both of trapped neutrinos and antineutrinos. Disks
with lower accretion rates that have only a significant region of trapped
neutrinos can have outflows with very high electron fractions, whereas the
lowest accretion rate disks with little trapping have outflow electrons
fractions of closer to one half.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Understanding Supernova Neutrino Physics using Low-Energy Beta-Beams
We show that fitting linear combinations of low-energy beta-beam spectra to
supernova-neutrino energy-distributions reconstructs the response of a nuclear
target to a supernova flux in a very accurate way. This allows one to make
direct predictions about the supernova-neutrino signal in a terrestrial
neutrino detector.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of International School of Nuclear
Physics: 27th Course: "Neutrinos in Cosmology, in Astro, Particle and Nuclear
Physics". Erice, Sicily, Italy, 16-2
Untangling supernova-neutrino oscillations with beta-beam data
Recently, we suggested that low-energy beta-beam neutrinos can be very useful
for the study of supernova neutrino interactions. In this paper, we examine the
use of a such experiment for the analysis of a supernova neutrino signal. Since
supernova neutrinos are oscillating, it is very likely that the terrestrial
spectrum of supernova neutrinos of a given flavor will not be the same as the
energy distribution with which these neutrinos were first emitted. We
demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method for untangling multiple
neutrino spectra. This is an essential feature of any model aiming at gaining
information about the supernova mechanism, probing proto-neutron star physics,
and understanding supernova nucleosynthesis, such as the neutrino process and
the r-process. We also consider the efficacy of different experimental
approaches including measurements at multiple beam energies and detector
configurations.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
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