Speaker
Description
Heavy element synthesis within stellar bodies typically manifests in explosive
environments such as neutron star mergers. These potential sites present high
enough neutron densities that facilitate neutron degeneracy. In this work, we
study the effect of neutron degeneracy on stellar capture rates for nuclei ranging
from stability to the neutron drip line. We investigate how degeneracy can alter
traditional reaction rates over a range of thermodynamic conditions that are
typical of the r - process. Our results show that degeneracy can change the
capture of neutrons by orders of magnitude compared to captures under strictly
explosive conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrate how thermally populated
targets can further enhance the capture of degenerate neutrons. Our corrections
to stellar neutron capture rates may lead to changes in the abundance evolution
of r-process elements.
