End Point of the rp Process on Accreting Neutron Stars

H. Schatz, A. Aprahamian, V. Barnard, L. Bildsten, A. Cumming, M. Ouellette, T. Rauscher, F.-K. Thielemann, and M. Wiescher
Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3471 – Published 16 April 2001
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Abstract

We calculate the rapid proton ( rp) capture process of hydrogen burning on the surface of an accreting neutron star with an updated reaction network that extends up to Xe, far beyond previous work. In both steady-state nuclear burning appropriate for rapidly accreting neutron stars (such as the magnetic polar caps of accreting x-ray pulsars) and unstable burning of type I x-ray bursts, we find that the rp process ends in a closed SnSbTe cycle. This prevents the synthesis of elements heavier than Te and has important consequences for x-ray burst profiles, the composition of accreting neutron stars, and potentially galactic nucleosynthesis of light p nuclei.

  • Received 27 December 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3471

©2001 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

H. Schatz1, A. Aprahamian2, V. Barnard2, L. Bildsten3, A. Cumming3, M. Ouellette1, T. Rauscher4, F.-K. Thielemann4, and M. Wiescher2

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy and National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824
  • 2Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
  • 3Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
  • 4Department of Physics and Astronomy, Universität Basel, Klingelbergstrasse 82, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

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Vol. 86, Iss. 16 — 16 April 2001

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