Constraining nucleosythesis in neutrino-driven winds using the impact of (α, xn) reaction rates

Abstract

The lighter heavy elements of the first r-process peak, between strontium and silver, can be synthesized in the moderately neutron-rich neutrino–driven ejecta of either core–collapse supernovae or neutron star mergers via the weak r–process. This nucleosynthesis scenario exhibits uncertainties from the absence of experimental data from (α, xn) reactions on neutron–rich nuclei, which are currently based on statistical model estimates. We have performed a new impact study to identify the most important (α, xn) reactions that can affect the production of the lighter heavy elements under different astrophysical conditions using new, constrained (α, xn) reaction rates based on the Atomki-V2 αOMP. Our results show how when reducing the nuclear physics uncertainties, we can use abundance ratios to constrain the astrophysical conditions/environment. This can be achieved in the near future, when the key (α, xn) reaction rates will be measured experimentally in radioactive beam facilities.