2018/01/23 by I Kullmann, Kullmann, I. K. B., Hafli, E. W. +4
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Nuclear Physics and Applications #Nuclear Theory (nucl-th) #Nuclear physics research studies #Nuclear reactor physics and engineering
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1801.07522
openalex publication_date 2018/01/23 · openalex created_date 2018/02/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The rapid neutron-capture process (r-process) has for the first time been confirmed to take place in a neutron-star merger event. A detailed understanding of the rapid neutron-capture process is one of the holy grails in nuclear astrophysics. In this work we investigate one aspect of the r-process modelling: uncertainties in radiative neutron-capture cross sections and astrophysical reaction rates for isotopes of the elements Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, and Se. In particular, we study deviations from standard libraries used for astrophysics, and the influence of a very-low γ-energy enhancement in the average, reduced γ-decay probability on the (n,γ) rates. We find that the intrinsic uncertainties are in some cases extremely large, and that the low-energy enhancement, if present in neutron-rich nuclei, may increase the neutron-capture reaction rate significantly.