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        The Role of Fission in Neutron Star Mergers and Its Impact on the r-Process Peaks

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        Author
        Eichler, M.
        Arcones, A.
        Kelic, A.
        Korobkin, O.
        Langanke, K.
        Marketin, T.
        Martinez-Pinedo, G.
        Panov, I.
        Rauscher, T.
        Rosswog, S.
        Winteler, C.
        Zinner, N. T.
        Thielemann, F. K.
        Attention
        2299/16381
        Abstract
        Comparing observational abundance features with nucleosynthesis predictions of stellar evolution or explosion simulations, we can scrutinize two aspects: (a) the conditions in the astrophysical production site and (b) the quality of the nuclear physics input utilized. We test the abundance features of r-process nucleosynthesis calculations for the dynamical ejecta of neutron star merger simulations based on three different nuclear mass models: The Finite Range Droplet Model, the (quenched version of the) Extended Thomas Fermi Model with Strutinsky Integral, and the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mass model. We make use of corresponding fission barrier heights and compare the impact of four different fission fragment distribution models on the final r-process abundance distribution. In particular, we explore the abundance distribution in the second r-process peak and the rare-earth sub-peak as a function of mass models and fission fragment distributions, as well as the origin of a shift in the third r-process peak position. The latter has been noticed in a number of merger nucleosynthesis predictions. We show that the shift occurs during the r-process freeze-out when neutron captures and β-decays compete and an (n,γ)-(γ,n) equilibrium is no longer maintained. During this phase neutrons originate mainly from fission of material above A = 240. We also investigate the role of β-decay half-lives from recent theoretical advances, which lead either to a smaller amount of fissioning nuclei during freeze-out or a faster (and thus earlier) release of fission neutrons, which can (partially) prevent this shift and has an impact on the second and rare-earth peak as well.
        Publication date
        2015-07-15
        Published in
        The Astrophysical Journal
        Published version
        https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/808/1/30
        Other links
        http://hdl.handle.net/2299/16381
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