Coupling highly excited nuclei to the atomic shell in dense astrophysical plasmas

Stephan Helmrich, Katja Spenneberg, and Adriana Pálffy
Phys. Rev. C 90, 015802 – Published 11 July 2014

Abstract

In dense astrophysical plasmas, neutron capture populates highly excited nuclear states close to the neutron threshold. The impact of additional low-energy nuclear excitations via coupling to the atomic shell on the ability of the so-formed compound nucleus to retain the captured neutron is investigated. We focus on the mechanism of nuclear excitation by electron capture in plasmas characterized by electron fluxes typical for the slow neutron capture process of stellar nucleosynthesis. The small effect of this further excitation on the neutron capture and γ decay sequence relevant for nucleosynthesis is quantified and compared to the corresponding effect of an additional low-energy photoexcitation step.

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  • Received 25 April 2014

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.90.015802

©2014 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Stephan Helmrich*, Katja Spenneberg, and Adriana Pálffy

  • Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany

  • *Present address: Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany; helmrich@physi.uni-heidelberg.de
  • palffy@mpi-hd.mpg.de

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Vol. 90, Iss. 1 — July 2014

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