2025/09/11 by Yu, T., Guo, Y. Y., Jiang, X. F. +1
#FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2509.09478
The role of near neutron-drip-line nuclei in the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) is studied with the classical r-process model. Simulations under different astrophysical conditions (T, nn) show that r-process paths approach the neutron-drip line under low-temperature and high-neutron-density conditions. A sensitivity study reveals that variations in the nuclear masses of these exotic nuclei significantly impact the abundances of superheavy nuclei, and lead to obvious abundance variations in the A=110-125, A=175-185, and A=200-205 regions. By contrast, the r-process rare-earth peak and the A=130,195 peaks remain largely unaffected. The nuclei that obviously impact r-process abundances are mainly distributed in the region of 25≤ Z≤ 90 and 50≤ N≤ 180, with the nuclei around neutron magic numbers found to be particularly important for the r-process, even in the near-neutron-drip-line region.