Bulletin of the American Physical Society
5th Joint Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics and the Physical Society of Japan
Volume 63, Number 12
Tuesday–Saturday, October 23–27, 2018; Waikoloa, Hawaii
Session 2WEB: R-process in the Era of Neutron Star Merger Observations II |
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Chair: Toshitaka Kajino, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan Room: Hilton King's 1 |
Tuesday, October 23, 2018 4:00PM - 4:30PM |
2WEB.00001: Origin(s) of the Heavy Elements: What is the role of nuclear physics experiments? Invited Speaker: Ani Aprahamian The US science academies report on ``Connecting Quarks to the Cosmos'' identified eleven of the most challenging open questions for all of physics in the 21st century. One of these eleven questions included the identification of the site(s) for the production of the heaviest elements found in nature. How were elements Fe to U made? Most of the elements above Fe in the periodic table are thought to have been produced by either the slow (s-process) or rapid (r-process) capture of neutrons in astrophysical environments. The s-process proceeds close to stability and astrophysical sites have been identified, while the r-process allows the production of nuclei much further from stability and potential sites remain mostly unresolved. The recent observation of gravitational waves from two neutron star mergers simultaneously with the spectroscopy showed lines from rare earth elements. The questions remain; are there enough such mergers? are mergers the only source of r-process elements ? what is the role of nuclear physics experiments? can nuclear properties help us discriminate between various merger trajectories? which nuclei are the most important to measure?
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Tuesday, October 23, 2018 4:30PM - 5:00PM |
2WEB.00002: The r-process in neutron star mergers and the radioactive energies Invited Speaker: Shinya Wanajo The discovery of a neutron star merger as the source of gravitational wave signals (GW170817) provides us with clues to understanding the astrophysical origin of the r-process elements. However, a satisfactory model of mergers to account for this event is still missing. Moreover, no evidence of the production of the r-process elements heavier than lanthanides, such as gold and uranium, was obtained from the observations of the kilonova (an electromagnetic counterpart of GW170817). I will discuss the radioactive energies from decaying r-process nuclei as to diagnose the production of heavy r-process elements in GW170817 and in the future merger events. The current status of the merger models and galactic chemical evolution study relevant to the r-process also will be presented. |
Tuesday, October 23, 2018 5:00PM - 5:30PM |
2WEB.00003: The origin of the light r-process elements Invited Speaker: Hendrik Schatz The observational identification of neutron star mergers as heavy element nucleosynthesis sites though observations of the Kilonova associated with GW170817 provides a key puzzle piece in the quest to understand the origin of the heavy elements. However, what exactly neutron star mergers contribute to the chemical evolution of the Galaxy, and what role other heavy element synthesis sites play, remains an open question. This is particularly true for the elements just above iron, from about germanium to silver. Observations of chemical abundances in metal poor stars provide strong evidence that in addition to the s-process, multiple processes contribute to these elements. Disentangling these different contributions requires reliable nuclear data, high fidelity stellar models, and a large body of observational data. I will discuss some of the possible production sites and processes of the "light" heavy elements, and some recent experimental work at NSCL related to the weak r-process in core collapse supernovae. |
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