1998/09/30 by R. D. Hoffman, S. E. Woosley, T. A. Weaver +4 · 4 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Astronomical and nuclear sciences #Astrophysics #Chemistry #Nuclear astrophysics #Nuclear physics #Nuclear physics research studies #Nuclear reaction #Nucleosynthesis #Physics #Reaction rate #Sensitivity (control systems) #Stars #Stellar evolution #Stellar nucleosynthesis #Supernova #Type II supernova #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/307568
Latex, 43 pages, 15 figures. To appear Aug 20, 1999 in the Astrophysical Journal Revised text, Table 2 reflects production after decay, Table 3 is new. Main results and conclusions unchanged
arxiv created 1999/04/06 · openalex publication_date 1999/08/20 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We explore the sensitivity of the nucleosynthesis of intermediate-mass elements (28 ≤ A ≲ 80) in supernovae derived from massive stars to the nuclear reaction rates employed in the model. Two standard sources of reaction rate data are employed in pairs of calculations that are otherwise identical. Both include as a common backbone the experimental reactions rates of Caughlan & Fowler. Two stellar models are calculated for each of two masses: 15 and 25 M ☉ . Each star is evolved from core hydrogen burning to a presupernova state carrying an appropriately large reaction network and then exploded using a piston near the edge of the iron core as described by Woosley & Weaver. The final stellar yields from the models calculated with the two rate sets are compared and found to differ in most cases by less than a factor of 2 over the entire range of nuclei studied. Reasons for the major discrepancies along with the physics underlying the two reaction rate sets employed are discussed in detail. The nucleosynthesis results are relatively robust and less sensitive than might be expected to uncertainties in nuclear reaction rates, though they are sensitive to the stellar model employed.