2021-11-05

The possibility to find a clue of nucleosynthesis in super-massive stars’ explosion

speaker: Yuta Yamazaki

Abstract:

The origin of the heavy elements in the universe is not completely clear. Elements heavier than iron are mainly produced by neutron capture processes, among which neutron-rich stable nuclei are produced by the rapid neutron capture processes (r-process). In particular, neutron-rich stable nuclei are produced by the r-process. The r-process occurs in physical environments with extremely high neutron density, however the specific astrophysical site are still not fully understood. Some stable nuclei cannot be theoretically produced by the neutron capture processes, although they exist in small amounts. These neutron-deficient nuclei (p-nuclei) are thought to be produced in proton-rich environments. The explosion of a supermassive star is thought to be the site of the r-process, as well as the site where p-nuclei are produced in the vp-process, a nucleosynthetic process induced by neutrinos. In this talk, I will discuss the possibility to find a clue of nucleosynthesis in supermassive stars by applying the latest nucleosynthesis calculation results to galactic chemical evolution.