- Letter
Impact of nuclear -decay rates on the -process rare-earth peak abundances
Phys. Rev. C 108, L062802 – Published 19 December, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.108.L062802
Abstract
The impact of -decay rates of an individual nucleus on the -process rare-earth peak abundances has been studied in different astrophysical scenarios. The variation in -decay rates by a factor of 10 can produce large abundance uncertainties in the rare-earth mass region, while fission deposition can significantly reduce this uncertainty, which is not a suggested case by the current simulations of neutron-star mergers with moderately neutron-rich conditions where fission is less active. The most impactful nuclei include even-neutron-number () nuclei on the early -process equilibrium path or -process freeze-out path and nuclei with , 102, and 104. It is found that the variations in the -decay rate of nuclei located to the left and right sides of the -process freeze-out path have significant different effects on rare-earth peak abundance.
