16 research outputs found
Actinide-rich and Actinide-poor -Process Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars do not Require Separate -Process Progenitors
The astrophysical production site of the heaviest elements in the universe
remains a mystery. Incorporating heavy element signatures of metal-poor,
-process enhanced stars into theoretical studies of -process production
can offer crucial constraints on the origin of heavy elements. In this study,
we introduce and apply the "Actinide-Dilution with Matching" model to a variety
of stellar groups ranging from actinide-deficient to actinide-enhanced to
empirically characterize -process ejecta mass as a function of electron
fraction. We find that actinide-boost stars do not indicate the need for a
unique and separate -process progenitor. Rather, small variations of neutron
richness within the same type of -process event can account for all observed
levels of actinide enhancements. The very low-, fission-cycling ejecta of
an -process event need only constitute 10-30% of the total ejecta mass to
accommodate most actinide abundances of metal-poor stars. We find that our
empirical distributions of ejecta are similar to those inferred from
studies of GW170817 mass ejecta ratios, which is consistent with neutron-star
mergers being a source of the heavy elements in metal-poor, -process
enhanced stars.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, Submitted to Ap
Nucleosynthesis in Outflows from Black Hole-Neutron Star Merger Disks With Full GRRMHD
Along with binary neutron star mergers, the in-spiral and merger of a black
hole and a neutron star is a predicted site of -process nucleosynthesis and
associated kilonovae. For the right mass ratio, very large amounts of neutron
rich material may become unbound from the post-merger accretion disk. We
simulate a suite of four post-merger disks with full-transport general
relativistic neutrino radiation magnetohydrodynamics. We find that the outflows
from these disks are very close to the threshold conditions for robust
-process nucleosynthesis. For these conditions, the detailed properties of
the outflow determine whether a full -process can or cannot occur, implying
that a wide range of observable phenomena are possible. We show that on average
the disk outflow lanthanide fraction is suppressed relative to the solar
isotopic pattern. In combination with the dynamical ejecta, these outflows
imply a kilonova with both blue and red components
Superheavy Elements in Kilonovae
As LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA enters its fourth observing run, a new opportunity to
search for electromagnetic counterparts of compact object mergers will also
begin. The light curves and spectra from the first "kilonova" associated with a
binary neutron star binary (NSM) suggests that these sites are hosts of the
rapid neutron capture ("") process. However, it is unknown just how robust
elemental production can be in mergers. Identifying signposts of the production
of particular nuclei is critical for fully understanding merger-driven
heavy-element synthesis. In this study, we investigate the properties of very
neutron rich nuclei for which superheavy elements () can be produced
in NSMs and whether they can similarly imprint a unique signature on kilonova
light-curve evolution. A superheavy-element signature in kilonovae represents a
route to establishing a lower limit on heavy-element production in NSMs as well
as possibly being the first evidence of superheavy element synthesis in nature.
Favorable NSMs conditions yield a mass fraction of superheavy elements is
at 7.5 hours post-merger. With this mass
fraction of superheavy elements, we find that kilonova light curves may appear
similar to those arising from lanthanide-poor ejecta. Therefore, photometric
characterizations of superheavy-element rich kilonova may possibly misidentify
them as lanthanide-poor events.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Characterizing r-Process Sites through Actinide Production
© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. Of the variations in the elemental abundance patterns of stars enhanced with r-process elements, the variation in the relative actinide-To-lanthanide ratio is among the most significant. We investigate the source of these actinide differences in order to determine whether these variations are due to natural differences in astrophysical sites, or due to the uncertain nuclear properties that are accessed in r-process sites. We find that variations between relative stellar actinide abundances is most likely astrophysical in nature, owing to how neutron-rich the ejecta from an r-process event may be. Furthermore, if an r-process site is capable of generating variations in the neutron-richness of its ejected material, then only one type of r-process site is needed to explain all levels of observed relative actinide enhancements