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arXiv 1601.05640astro-ph.SR
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低质量恒星中重元素合成的温度和年代学

The temperature and chronology of heavy-element synthesis in low-mass stars

Pieter Neyskens, Sophie Van Eck, Alain Jorissen, Stephane Goriely, Lionel Siess, Bertrand Plez

摘要:

大约一半的重元素(原子质量大于铁)被认为是在恒星演化的后期合成的,质量在0.8到8个太阳质量之间。在恒星内部深处,原子核(主要是铁)捕获中子,并逐渐积累(通过慢中子捕获过程,或s过程)较重的元素,随后通过对流带到恒星表面。有两种中子源,在不同的温度下被激活:13 C和22 Ne,每捕获一个α粒子(4 He),就释放一个中子。为了解释测量到的恒星丰度,人们倾向于使用13 C中子源(在大约一亿开尔文的温度下工作)的恒星演化模型。然而,原始陨石中的同位素比率反映了为太阳系贡献物质的前几代恒星的核合成,表明温度更高(超过3亿开尔文),至少需要22 Ne的后期激活。在这里,我们报告的s-过程的温度直接在演化的低质量巨星的测定,使用锆和铌丰度,独立于恒星演化模型。导出的温度支持13 C作为s过程中子源。用于估算s-过程温度的放射性对93 Zr-93 Nb和99 Tc-99 Ru一起提供了s-过程开始以来所经过时间的计时信息,我们确定为100万到300万年。

英文摘要:

Roughly half of the heavy elements (atomic mass greater than that of iron) are believed to be synthesized in the late evolutionary stages of stars with masses between 0.8 and 8 solar masses. Deep inside the star, nuclei (mainly iron) capture neutrons and progressively build up (through the slow-neutron-capture process, or s-process) heavier elements that are subsequently brought to the stellar surface by convection. Two neutron sources, activated at distinct temperatures, have been proposed: 13C and 22Ne, each releasing one neutron per alpha-particle (4He) captured. To explain the measured stellar abundances, stellar evolution models invoking the 13C neutron source (which operates at temperatures of about one hundred million kelvin) are favoured. Isotopic ratios in primitive meteorites, however, reflecting nucleosynthesis in the previous generations of stars that contributed material to the Solar System, point to higher temperatures (more than three hundred million kelvin), requiring at least a late activation of 22Ne. Here we report a determination of the s-process temperature directly in evolved low-mass giant stars, using zirconium and niobium abundances, independently of stellar evolution models. The derived temperature supports 13C as the s-process neutron source. The radioactive pair 93Zr-93Nb used to estimate the s-process temperature also provides, together with the pair 99Tc-99Ru, chronometric information on the time elapsed since the start of the s-process, which we determine to be one million to three million years.

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