Resonant active-sterile neutrino conversion and r-process nucleosynthesis in neutrino-heated supernova ejecta

Details Resonant active-sterile neutrino conversion and r-process nucleosynthesis in neutrino-heated supernova ejecta Resonant active-sterile neutrino conversion and r-process nucleosynthesis in neutrino-heated supernova ejecta

Nov 2000

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000phdt.........5f&link_type=abstract

Thesis (PhD). THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MADISON, Source DAI-B 61/05, p. 2602, Nov 2000, 136 pages.

Physics

2

Scientific paper

The neutrino-driven wind of a Type II supernova, is a likely site for the rapid neutron capture process (r-process) of heavy-element nucleosynthesis. Detailed models of the wind, however, have difficulty reproducing the solar system abundance pattern. In particular, models tend to find a ratio of neutrons to seed nuclei which is too low to account for the abundances of the heaviest elements, around A = 195. One way to increase the neutron-to-seed ratio is to increase the abundance of neutrons, or equivalently, to decrease the electron fraction in the wind. We study matter-enhanced neutrino transformation in the wind, using the channels ne- ns and ne- ns , where ns is a sterile neutrino species. This mechanism can convert most of the ne 's to sterile species, while leaving most of the ne 's active. The disappearance of the ne population has two effects. It dramatically lowers the electron fraction, since charged-current ne captures on protons are not balanced by ne captures on neutrons. It also enervates the ``alpha effect,'' where ne captures on protons during the formation of a particles reduce the neutron richness of material in the wind. We therefore find that active-sterile neutrino transformation will increase the neutron-to-seed ratio, helping the supernova r-process produce the heaviest observed nuclei. However, neutrino-neutrino interactions may prevent active-sterile transformation of the kind we discuss. We present preliminary calculations of this effect, and suggest directions for future research.

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