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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 90 » Issue 24
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 241102 (2003) [4 pages]

Electron Capture Rates on Nuclei and Implications for Stellar Core Collapse

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K. Langanke1, G. Martínez-Pinedo2,3, J. M. Sampaio1, D. J. Dean4, W. R. Hix4,5,6, O. E. B. Messer4,5,6, A. Mezzacappa4, M. Liebendörfer7,4,5, H.-Th. Janka8, and M. Rampp8
1Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Århus, DK-8000 Århus C, Denmark
2Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Edifici Nexus, Gran Capità 2, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain
3Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Lluís Companys 23, E-08010 Barcelona, Spain
4Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
5Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA
6Joint Institute for Heavy Ion Research, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
7Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3H8
8Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, D-85741 Garching, Germany

Received 21 February 2003; published 19 June 2003

Supernova simulations to date have assumed that during core collapse electron captures occur dominantly on free protons, while captures on heavy nuclei are Pauli blocked and are ignored. We have calculated rates for electron capture on nuclei with mass numbers A=65–112 for the temperatures and densities appropriate for core collapse. We find that these rates are large enough so that, in contrast to previous assumptions, electron capture on nuclei dominates over capture on free protons. This leads to significant changes in core collapse simulations.

© 2003 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.241102
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.241102
PACS:
26.50.+x, 23.40.–s, 97.60.Bw
 
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