DOE OSTI · 2563759
Impact of Newly Measured 𝛽-Delayed Neutron Emitters around 78 Ni on Light Element Nucleosynthesis in the Neutrino Wind Following a Neutron Star Merger
Abstract
Neutron emission probabilities and half-lives of 37 𝛽-delayed neutron emitters from 75 Ni to 92 Br were measured at the RIKEN Nishina Center in Japan, including 11 one-neutron and 13 two-neutron emission probabilities and six half-lives for the first time that supersede theoretical estimates. These nuclei lie in the path of the weak 𝑟 process occurring in neutrino-driven winds from the accretion disk formed after the merger of two neutron stars synthesizing elements in the 𝐴∼80 abundance peak. The presence of such elements dominates the accompanying kilonova emission over the first few days and have been identified in the AT2017gfo event, associated to the gravitational wave detection GW170817. Abundance calculations based on over 17,000 simulated trajectories describing the evolution of matter properties in the merger outflows show that the new data lead to an increase of 50%–70% in the abundance of Y, Zr, Nb, and Mo. This enhancement is large compared to the scatter of relative abundances observed in old very metal poor stars and thus is significant in the comparison with other possible astrophysical processes contributing to the light-element production. These results underline the importance of including experimental decay data for very neutron-rich 𝛽 -delayed neutron emitters into 𝑟 -process models.
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Tolosa-Delgado, A. [Univ. de Valencia, Paterna (Spain); University of Jyväskylä (Finland); European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland)] (ORCID:0000000349284676), Tain, J. L. [Univ. de Valencia, Paterna (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000232636965), Reichert, M. [Univ. de Valencia, Paterna (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000166537538), Arcones, A. [Darmstadt Univ. of Technology (Germany); GSI Helmholtzzentrum fr Schwerionenforschung GmbH, Darmstadt (Germany); Max Planck Institut fr Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany)] (ORCID:0000000269953032), Eichler, M. [Darmstadt Univ. of Technology (Germany)], Rasco, B. C. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)], Brewer, N. T. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000153150676), Rykaczewski, K. P. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000257173418), Yokoyama, R. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000332983542), Grzywacz, R. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000209202587), Dillmann, I. [TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada); Univ. of Victoria, BC (Canada)] (ORCID:0000000185213635), Agramunt, J. [Univ. de Valencia, Paterna (Spain)], Ahn, D. S. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan); Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon (South Korea)], Algora, A. [Univ. de Valencia, Paterna (Spain); HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen (Hungary)] (ORCID:0000000251991794), Baba, H. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000344538120), Bae, S. [Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of); University of Tokyo, Wako (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000304202163), Bruno, C. G. [Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000332413371), Caballero Folch, R. [TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada)] (ORCID:0000000307659732), Calvino, F. [Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000271984639), Coleman-Smith, P. J. [Daresbury Laboratory (United Kingdom)], Cortes, G. [Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000236485826), Davinson, T. [Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000287696893), Domingo-Pardo, C. [Univ. de Valencia, Paterna (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000229155466), Estrade, A. [Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant, MI (United States)], Fukuda, N. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000324300609), Go, S. [Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)], Griffin, C. J. [Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000349826252), Ha, J. [Seoul National Univ. (Korea, Republic of)] (ORCID:0000000348438573), Hall, O. [Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)], Harkness-Brennan, L. [Univ. of Liverpool (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000271261553), Isobe, T. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)] (ORCID:000000015163030X), Kahl, D. [Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom); Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP), Bucharest (Romania); Horia Hulubei National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Magurele (Romania)], Karny, M. [Univ. of Warsaw (Poland)], Khiem, L. H. [VNU University of Science, Hanoi (Vietnam)], Kiss, G. G. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan); HUN-REN Institute for Nuclear Research, Debrecen (Hungary)] (ORCID:0000000304081752), Kogimtzis, M. [Daresbury Laboratory (United Kingdom)], Korgul, A. [Univ. of Warsaw (Poland)] (ORCID:000000030316170X), Kubono, S. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000307835978), Labiche, M. [Daresbury Laboratory (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000265068562), Lazarus, I. [Daresbury Laboratory (United Kingdom)], Liang, J. [McMaster Univ., Hamilton, ON (Canada)], Lee, J. [Univ. of Hong Kong, Pokfulam (Hong Kong)], Liu, J. [Univ. of Hong Kong, Pokfulam (Hong Kong)], Lorusso, G. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan); National Physical Laboratory, Teddington (United Kingdom)], Matsui, K. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan); University of Tokyo (Japan)], Miernik, K. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Warsaw (Poland)] (ORCID:0000000243735600), Montes, F. [Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). National Superconducting Cyclotron Lab.], Moon, B. [Korea Univ., Seoul, (Korea, Republic of); Institute for Basic Science, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)], Morales, A. I. [Univ. de Valencia, Paterna (Spain)] (ORCID:0000000266650925), Nepal, N. [Central Michigan Univ., Mount Pleasant, MI (United States)], Nishimura, S. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000295146461), Page, R. D. [Univ. of Liverpool (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:000900097062711X), Piersa-Siłkowska, M. [Univ. of Warsaw (Poland)] (ORCID:0000000258772818), Phong, V. H. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan); VNU University of Science, Hanoi (Vietnam)], Podolyák, Zs. [Univ. of Surrey, Guildford (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000260949520), Pucknell, V. F. E. [Daresbury Laboratory (United Kingdom)], Regan, P. H. [Univ. of Surrey, Guildford (United Kingdom); National Physical Laboratory, Teddington (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:000000029870182X), Rubio, B. [Instituto de Fisica Corpuscular (CSIC-Universitat de Valencia)] (ORCID:0000000291494151), Saito, Y. [TRIUMF, Vancouver, BC (Canada)] (ORCID:0000000313208903), Sakurai, H. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan); University of Tokyo (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000262154254), Shimizu, Y. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)], Simpson, J. [Daresbury Laboratory (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000299111012), Söderström, P.-A. [RIKEN Nishina Center; Extreme Light Infrastructure-Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP)], Stracener, D. W. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)] (ORCID:0000000300968751), Sumikama, T. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)], Surman, R. [University of Notre Dame, IN (United States)], Suzuki, H. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)], Takechi, M. [Niigata University (Japan)], Takeda, H. [RIKEN Nishina Center, Wako (Japan)], Tarifeño-Saldivia, A. [Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona (Spain)], Thomas, S. L. [Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), Oxford (United Kingdom). Rutherford Appleton Lab. (RAL)], Wolińska-Cichocka, M. [Univ. of Warsaw (Poland)] (ORCID:0000000278577796), Woods, P. J. [Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)], Xu, X. X. [Univ. of Hong Kong, Pokfulam (Hong Kong)]. 2025-05-01. Impact of Newly Measured 𝛽-Delayed Neutron Emitters around 78 Ni on Light Element Nucleosynthesis in the Neutrino Wind Following a Neutron Star Merger. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.134.172701
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