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APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 96 » Issue 14
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 142502 (2006) [4 pages]

Neutrino-Induced Nucleosynthesis of A>64 Nuclei: The νp Process

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C. Fröhlich1, G. Martínez-Pinedo2,3, M. Liebendörfer4,1, F.-K. Thielemann1, E. Bravo5, W. R. Hix6, K. Langanke3,7, and N. T. Zinner8
1Departement für Physik und Astronomie, Universität Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland
2ICREA and Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain
3Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, D-64291 Darmstadt, Germany
4Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3H8, Canada
5Departament de Física i Enginyeria Nuclear, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, E-08034 Barcelona, Spain
6Physics Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA
7Institut für Kernphysik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, D-64289 Darmstadt, Germany
8Institute for Physics and Astronomy, University of Århus, DK-8000 Århus C, Denmark

Received 10 November 2005; published 10 April 2006

See accompanying Physics Focus

We present a new nucleosynthesis process that we denote as the νp process, which occurs in supernovae (and possibly gamma-ray bursts) when strong neutrino fluxes create proton-rich ejecta. In this process, antineutrino absorptions in the proton-rich environment produce neutrons that are immediately captured by neutron-deficient nuclei. This allows for the nucleosynthesis of nuclei with mass numbers A>64, making this process a possible candidate to explain the origin of the solar abundances of 92,94Mo and 96,98Ru. This process also offers a natural explanation for the large abundance of Sr seen in a hyper-metal-poor star.

© 2006 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.142502
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.142502
PACS:
26.30.+k, 25.30.Pt, 97.60.Bw
 
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