We present our chemical abundance investigation of the metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-1.60 dex), r-process-enriched ([Eu/Fe]=0.73 dex) halo star HD 20 using novel and archival high-resolution spectra at outstanding signal-to-noise ratios. By combining one of the first asteroseismic gravity measurements in the metal-poor regime from a TESS light curve with non-LTE analyses of iron lines, we derive a set of highly accurate and precise stellar parameters. These allow us to delineate a chemical pattern comprised of solid detections of 48 elements, including 28 neutron-capture elements, which establishes HD 20 among the few benchmark stars that have almost complete patterns with low systematic dependencies on the stellar parameters. Our light-element (Z<30) abundances are representative of other, similarly metal-poor stars in the Galactic halo with contributions from core-collapse supernovae of type II. A comparison to the scaled solar r-pattern shows that the lighter neutron-capture elements (37<Z<60) are poorly matched. In particular, we find imprints of the weak r-process acting at low metallicities. Nonetheless, by comparing our detailed abundances to the observed metal-poor star BD +17 3248, we find a persistent residual pattern that is indicative of enrichment contributions from the s-process. We show that mixing with material from predicted yields of massive, rotating AGB stars at low metallicity considerably improves the fit. Based on a solar ratio of heavy- to light-s elements -- at odds with model predictions for the i-process -- and a missing clear residual pattern with respect to other stars with claimed contributions from this process, we refute (strong) contributions from such astrophysical sites providing intermediate neutron densities. Finally, nuclear cosmochronology is used to tie our detection of the radioactive element Th to an age estimate for HD 20 of $11.0\pm3.8$ Gyr. [abridged]
Methods to determine abundances of the elements in the atmospheres of F, G, and K stars with precisions of 0.01-0.03 dex are reviewed. Such high-precision stellar abundances have led to the discovery of unexpected phenomena and relations with important bearings on the astrophysics of galaxies, stars, and planets, such as existence of discrete stellar populations in the Galactic disk and halo, differences in the relation between abundances and elemental condensation temperature for the Sun and solar twins, differences in chemical composition between binary star components and between members of…
There has been an incredibly large investment in obtaining high-resolution stellar spectra for determining chemical abundances of stars. This information is crucial to answer fundamental questions in Astronomy by constraining the formation and evolution scenarios of the Milky Way as well as the stars and planets residing in it. We have just entered a new era, in which chemical abundances of FGK-type stars are being produced at industrial scales, where the observations, reduction, and analysis of the data are automatically performed by machines. Here we review the latest human efforts to assess…
The chemical abundances of metal-poor stars provide a great deal of information regarding the individual nucleosynthetic processes that created the observed elements and the overall process of chemical enrichment of the galaxy since the formation of the first stars. Here we review the abundance patterns of the neutron-capture elements (Z > 38) in those metal-poor stars and our current understanding of the conditions and sites of their production at early times. We also review the relative contributions of these different processes to the build-up of these elements within the galaxy over time, …
We present adaptive-optics assisted near-infrared high-spectral resolution observations of late-type giants in the nuclear star cluster of the Milky Way. The metallicity and elemental abundance measurements of these stars offer us an opportunity to understand the formation and evolution of the nuclear star cluster. In addition, their proximity to the supermassive black hole ($\sim 0.5$ pc) offers a unique probe of the star formation and chemical enrichment in this extreme environment. We observed two stars identified by medium spectral-resolution observations as potentially having very high me…
The center of the Milky Way contains stellar populations spanning a range in age and metallicity, with a recent star formation burst producing young and massive stars. Chemical abundances in the most luminous stellar member of the Nuclear Star Cluster (NSC), IRS 7, are presented for $^{19}$F, $^{12}$C, $^{13}$C, $^{14}$N, $^{16}$O, $^{17}$O, and Fe from an LTE analysis based on spherical modeling and radiative transfer with a 25M$_{\odot}$ model atmosphere, whose chemistry was tailored to the derived photospheric abundances. We find IRS 7 to be depleted heavily in both $^{12}$C (~-0.8 dex) and…
Abundances of fluorine ($^{19}$F), as well as isotopic ratios of $^{16}$O/$^{17}$O, are derived in a sample of luminous young ($\sim$10$^{7}$--10$^{8}$ yrs) red giants in the Galactic center (with galactocentric distances ranging from 0.6--30 pc), using high-resolution infrared spectra and vibration-rotation lines of H$^{19}$F near $λ$2.3$μ$m. Five of the six red giants are members of the Nuclear star cluster that orbits the central supermassive black hole. Previous investigations of the chemical evolution of $^{19}$F in Galactic thin and thick disk stars have revealed that the nucleosynthetic…
The impact of nuclear mass uncertainties on the \emph{r}-process abundances has been systematically studied with the classical \emph{r}-process model by varying the mass of every individual nucleus in the range of $\pm0.1$ to $\pm3.0\ \mathrm{MeV}$ based on six different mass models. A new quantitative relation between the uncertainties of \emph{r}-process abundances and those of the nuclear masses is extracted, i.e., a mass uncertainty of $\pm0.5\ \mathrm{MeV}$ would lead to an abundance uncertainty of a factor around 2.5. It is found that this conclusion holds true for various mass models.
We report on a strictly differential line-by-line analysis of high quality UVES spectra of bright giants in the metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6752. We achieved high precision differential chemical abundance measurements for Fe, Na, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Zn, Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu and Dy with uncertainties as low as ~0.01 dex (~2%). We obtained the following main results. (1) The observed abundance dispersions are a factor of ~2 larger than the average measurement uncertainty. (2) There are positive correlations, of high statistical significance, between all elements and Na. (3) For …
We have performed for the first time a complete $r$-process mass sensitivity study in the $N=82$ region. We take into account how an uncertainty in a single nuclear mass propagates to influence important quantities of neighboring nuclei, including Q-values and reaction rates. We demonstrate that nuclear mass uncertainties of $\pm0.5$ MeV in the $N=82$ region result in up to an order of magnitude local change in $r$-process abundance predictions. We identify key nuclei in the study whose mass has a substantial impact on final $r$-process abundances and could be measured at future radioactive be…
The recent observation of neutron stars merger by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration and the measurements of the event's electromagnetic spectrum as a function of time for different wavelengths have altered profoundly our understanding of the r-process site as well as considerably energized nuclear astrophysics research efforts. R-process abundances are a key element in r-process simulations, as a successful calculation must account for these abundances in the final debris of a stellar cataclysmic event. In this article, mankind's complete knowledge of…
While the Milky Way Nuclear star cluster has been studied extensively, how it formed is uncertain. Studies have shown it contains a solar and supersolar metallicity population that may have formed in-situ, along with a subsolar metallicity population that may have formed via mergers of globular clusters and dwarf galaxies. Stellar abundance measurements are critical to differentiate between formation scenarios. We present new measurements of [$M/H$] and $α$-element abundances [$α/Fe$] of two subsolar-metallicity stars in the Galactic Center. These observations were taken with the adaptive-opti…
Nuclear masses are one of the key ingredients of nuclear physics that go into astrophysical simulations of the $r$ process. Nuclear masses effect $r$-process abundances by entering into calculations of Q-values, neutron capture rates, photo-dissociation rates, beta-decay rates, branching ratios and the properties of fission. Most of the thousands of short-lived neutron-rich nuclei which are believed to participate in the $r$ process lack any experimental verification, thus the identification of the most influential nuclei is of paramount importance. We have conducted mass sensitivity studies n…
We have performed for the first time a comprehensive study of the sensitivity of $r$-process nucleosynthesis to individual nuclear masses across the chart of nuclides. Using the latest version (2012) of the Finite-Range Droplet Model, we consider mass variations of $\pm0.5$ MeV and propagate each mass change to all affected quantities, including $Q$-values, reaction rates, and branching ratios. We find such mass variations can result in up to an order of magnitude local change in the final abundance pattern produced in an $r$-process simulation. We identify key nuclei whose masses have a subst…
Photometric investigations have revealed that Galactic globular clusters exhibit internal metallicity variations amongst the so-called first-population stars, until now considered to have a homogeneous initial chemical composition. This is not fully supported by the sparse spectroscopic evidence, which so far gives conflicting results. Here, we present a high-resolution re-analysis of five stars in the Galactic globular cluster NGC 2808 taken from the literature. Target stars are bright red giants with nearly identical atmospheric parameters belonging to the first population according to their…
HARPS spectra with signal-to-noise ratios S/N > 600 at 6000 A were analysed with MARCS model atmospheres to obtain 1D LTE abundances of C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ni, Sr, and Y for 72 nearby solar-type stars with metallicities in the range -0.3 < [Fe/H] < +0.3 and ASTEC stellar models were used to determine stellar ages from effective temperatures, luminosities obtained via Gaia DR2 parallaxes, and heavy element abundances. The resulting age-metallicity distribution appears to consist of two distinct populations: a sequence of old stars with a steep rise of [Fe/H] to about +0.3 dex …
Recent multi-messenger detection of the binary neutron star merger (GW170817) energized the astrophysical community and encouraged further research for determination of nuclear physics observables. Comprehensive studies of atomic nuclei in the cosmos provide an opportunity for investigating these astrophysical phenomena and acquiring complementary information on stellar nucleosynthesis processes that can be verified using the latest nuclear data. Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF) libraries contain complete collections of reaction cross sections over the energy range relevant to astrophysics, …
The abundance of α-elements provides an important fossil signature in Galactic archaeology to trace the chemical evolution of the different disc populations. High-precision chemical abundances are crucial to improving our understanding of the chemodynamical properties present in the Galaxy. However, deriving precise abundance estimations in the metal-rich disc ([M/H] > 0 dex) is still challenging. The aim of this paper is to analyse different error sources affecting magnesium abundance estimations from optical spectra of metal-rich stars. We derived Mg abundances for 87522 high-resolution spec…
We show that long-range correlations for nuclear masses have a significant effect on the synthesis of heavy elements by the r-process. As calculated by Delaroche et al. [1], these correlations suppress magic number effects associated with minor shells. This impacts the calculated abundances before the third r-process peak (at mass number A~195), where the abundances are low and form a trough. This trough and the position of the third abundance peak are strongly affected by the masses of nuclei in the transition region between deformed and spherical. Based on different astrophysical environment…
Context: Studies of extremely metal-poor stars indicate that chemical abundance ratios [X/Fe] have an rms scatter as low as 0.05 dex (12 \%). It remains unclear whether this reflects observational uncertainties or intrinsic astrophysical scatter arising from physical conditions in the ISM at early times. Aims: Measure differential chemical abundance ratios in extremely metal-poor stars to investigate the limits of precision and to understand whether cosmic scatter or observational errors are dominant. Methods: We used high resolution (R $\sim 95,000$) and high S/N (S/N $= 700$ at 5000$Å$) HIRE…
The bulk of the rare earth elements are believed to be synthesized in the rapid neutron capture process or $r$ process of nucleosynthesis. The solar $r$-process residuals show a small peak in the rare earths around $A\sim 160$, which is proposed to be formed dynamically during the end phase of the $r$ process by a pileup of material. This abundance feature is of particular importance as it is sensitive to both the nuclear physics inputs and the astrophysical conditions of the main $r$ process. We explore the formation of the rare earth peak from the perspective of an inverse problem, using Mon…
Rapid neutron capture or `$r$-process' nucleosynthesis may be responsible for half the production of heavy elements above iron on the periodic table. Masses are one of the most important nuclear physics ingredients that go into calculations of $r$-process nucleosynthesis as they enter into the calculations of reaction rates, decay rates, branching ratios and Q-values. We explore the impact of uncertainties in three nuclear mass models on $r$-process abundances by performing global monte carlo simulations. We show that root-mean-square (rms) errors of current mass models are large so that curre…
The fundamental stellar atmospheric parameters T_eff and log g and 13 chemical abundances are derived for medium-resolution spectroscopy from LAMOST Medium-Resolution Survey (MRS) data sets with a deep-learning method. The neural networks we designed, named as SPCANet, precisely map LAMOST MRS spectra to stellar parameters and chemical abundances. The stellar labels derived by SPCANet are with precisions of 119 K for T_eff and 0.17 dex for log g. The abundance precision of 11 elements including [C/H], [N/H], [O/H], [Mg/H], [Al/H], [Si/H], [S/H], [Ca/H], [Ti/H], [Cr/H], [Fe/H], and [Ni/H] are 0…
A previous study of correlations between element abundance ratios, [X/Fe], and ages of solar twin stars is extended to include Sc, Mn, Cu, and Ba. HARPS spectra with S/N > 600 are used to derive very precise (+/- 0.01 dex) differential abundances, and stellar ages with internal errors less than 1 Gyr are obtained by interpolation in the logg - Teff diagram between isochrones calculated with the Aarhus Stellar Evolution Code. For stars younger than 6 Gyr, [X/Fe] is tightly correlated with stellar age for all elements. For ages between 6 and 9 Gyr, the [X/Fe] - age correlations break down and th…
Increasingly powerful and multiplexed spectroscopic facilities promise detailed chemical abundance patterns for millions of resolved stars in galaxies beyond the Milky Way (MW). Here, we employ the Cramér-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) to forecast the precision to which stellar abundances for metal-poor, low-mass stars outside the MW can be measured for 41 current (e.g., Keck, MMT, VLT, DESI) and planned (e.g., MSE, JWST, ELTs) spectrograph configurations. We show that moderate resolution ($R\lesssim5000$) spectroscopy at blue-optical wavelengths ($λ\lesssim4500$ Å) (i) enables the recovery of 2-4 tim…
HARPS-N spectra with S/N > 250 and MARCS model atmospheres were used to derive abundances of C, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Fe, Ni, Zn, and Y in ten stars from the Kepler LEGACY sample (including the binary pair 16 Cyg A and B) selected to have metallicities in the range -0.15 < [Fe/H] < +0.15 and ages between 1 and 7 Gyr. Stellar gravities were obtained from seismic data and effective temperatures were determined by comparing non-LTE iron abundances derived from FeI and FeII lines. Available non-LTE corrections were also applied when deriving abundances of the other elements. The results s…
High-resolution (R ~ 100 000), high signal-to-noise spectra of M71 giants have been obtained with HIRES at the KeckI Telescope in order to measure their Mg isotopic ratios, as well as elemental abundances of C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Ni, Zr and La. We demonstrate that M71 has two populations, the first having weak CN, normal O, Na, Mg, and Al, and a low ratio of 26Mg/Mg (~4%) consistent with models of galactic chemical evolution with no contribution from AGB stars. The Galactic halo could have been formed from the dissolution of globular clusters prior to their intermediate mass stars r…
Globular clusters contain multiple stellar populations, with some previous generation of stars polluting the current stars with heavier elements. Understanding the history of globular clusters is helpful in understanding how galaxies merged and evolved and therefore constraining the site or sites of this historic pollution is a priority. The acceptable temperature and density conditions of these polluting sites depend on critical reaction rates. In this paper, three experimental studies helping to constrain astrophysically important reaction rates are briefly discussed.
Abundance anomalies in globular clusters provide strong evidence for multiple stellar populations within each cluster. These populations are usually interpreted as distinct generations, with the currently observed second-generation stars having formed in part from the ejecta of massive, first-generation "polluter" stars, giving rise to the anomalous abundance patterns. The precise nature of the polluters and their enrichment mechanism are still unclear. Even so, the chemical abundances measured in second-generation stars within the globular cluster NGC 2419 provide insight into this puzzling p…
The achievable level of precision on photospheric abundances of stars is a major limiting factor on investigations of exoplanet host star characteristics, the chemical histories of star clusters, and the evolution of the Milky Way and other galaxies. While model-induced errors can be minimized through the differential analysis of spectrally similar stars, the maximum achievable precision of this technique has been debated. As a test, we derive differential abundances of 19 elements from high-quality asteroid-reflected solar spectra taken using a variety of instruments and conditions. We treat …
Nuclear masses play a fundamental role in understanding how the heaviest elements in the Universe are created in the $r$-process. We predict $r$-process nucleosynthesis yields using neutron capture and photodissociation rates that are based on nuclear density functional theory. Using six Skyrme energy density functionals based on different optimization protocols, we determine for the first time systematic uncertainty bands -- related to mass modeling -- for $r$-process abundances in realistic astrophysical scenarios. We find that features of the underlying microphysics make an imprint on abund…
Stellar nucleosynthesis is an important nuclear physics phenomenon that is responsible for presently observed chemical elements and isotope abundances. It is also one of the corner stone hypotheses that provides basis for our understanding of Nature. Its theoretical predictions are often verified through the astrophysical observation and comparison of calculated isotopic abundances with the observed values. These calculations depend heavily on the availability of nuclear reaction rate, cross section and decay data. In this work, we will provide a review of theoretical and experimental nuclear …
In the abundance spectrum of r-process nuclei the most prominent features are the peaks that form when the r-process flow passes through the closed neutron shells. However, there are also other features in the abundance spectrum that can not be explained by shell effects, like the peak in the region of the rare-earth nuclei around mass A=160. It has been argued that this peak is related to the deformation maximum of the neutron-rich isotopes. Recently, both experimental and theoretical work has been carried out to study the deformation of neutron-rich rare-earth nuclei and to search for the po…
We present the first detailed chemical abundance analysis of the old 8.2 Gyr solar twin, HIP 102152. We derive differential abundances of 21 elements relative to the Sun with precisions as high as 0.004 dex ($\lesssim$1%), using ultra high-resolution (R = 110,000), high S/N UVES spectra obtained on the 8.2-m Very Large Telescope. Our determined metallicity of HIP 102152 is [Fe/H] = -0.013 $\pm$ 0.004. The atmospheric parameters of the star were determined to be 54 K cooler than the Sun, 0.09 dex lower in surface gravity, and a microturbulence identical to our derived solar value. Elemental abu…
Nucleosynthesis in the s process takes place in the He burning layers of low mass AGB stars and during the He and C burning phases of massive stars. The s process contributes about half of the element abundances between Cu and Bi in solar system material. Depending on stellar mass and metallicity the resulting s-abundance patterns exhibit characteristic features, which provide comprehensive information for our understanding of the stellar life cycle and for the chemical evolution of galaxies. The rapidly growing body of detailed abundance observations, in particular for AGB and post-AGB stars,…
We study the sensitivity of the r-process abundance pattern to neutron capture rates along the rare earth region (A~150 to A~180). We introduce the concepts of large nuclear flow and flow saturation which determine the neutron capture rates that are influential in setting the rare earth abundances. We illustrate the value of the two concepts by considering high entropy conditions favorable for rare earth peak production and identifying important neutron capture rates among the rare earth isotopes. We also show how these rates influence nuclear flow and specific sections of the abundance patter…
Carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) r/s-stars show surface-abundance distributions characteristic of the so-called intermediate neutron capture process (i-process) of nucleosynthesis. We previously showed that the ingestion of protons in the convective helium-burning region of a low-mass low-metallicity star can explain the surface abundance distribution observed in CEMP r/s stars relatively well. Such an i-process requires detailed reaction network calculations involving hundreds of nuclei for which reaction rates have not yet been determined experimentally. We investigate the nuclear physics u…
Novel method of calculating Nuclear Statistical Equilibrium is presented. Basic equations are carefully solved using arbitrary precision arithmetic. Special interpolation procedure is then used to retrieve all abundances using tabulated results for neutrons and protons, together with basic nuclear data. Proton and neutron abundance tables, basic nuclear data and partition functions for nuclides used in calculations are provided. Simple interpolation algorithm using pre-calculated p and n abundances tabulated as a functions of kT, rho and Ye is outlined. Unique properties of this method are: (1…
The 138La (T1/2=102 Gyr) - 138Ce - 136Ce system is proposed to be used as a nuclear cosmochronometer for measuring the time elapsed from a supernova neutrino process. This chronometer is applied to examine a sample affected by a single nucleosynthesis episode as presolar grains in primitive meteorites. A feature of this chronometer is to evaluate the initial abundance ratio of 136Ce/138Ce using an empirical scaling law, which was found in the solar abundances. We calculate the age of the sample as a function of isotopic ratios, 136Ce/138Ce, and 138La/138Ce, and evaluate the age uncertainty due…
We present nucleosynthesis studies based on hydrodynamical simulations of core-collapse supernovae and their subsequent neutrino-driven winds. Although the conditions found in these simulations are not suitable for the rapid neutron capture (r-process) to produce elements heavier than A$\sim$130, this can be solved by artificially increasing the wind entropy. In this way one can mimic the general behavior of an ejecta where the r-process occurs. We study the impact of the long-time dynamical evolution and of the nuclear physics input on the final abundances and show that different nuclear mass…
High-Precision Near-Infrared Abundances of Solar Analogs in the YJ Bands
The University of Tokyo（东京大学）；Kyoto Sangyo University（京都产业大学）；National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；Tokyo Metropolitan University（东京都立大学）
We explore the effects of nuclear masses on the temperature and neutron density conditions required for r-process nucleosynthesis using four nuclear mass models augmented by the latest atomic mass evaluation. For each model we derive the conditions for producing the observed abundance peaks at mass numbers A ~ 80, 130, and 195 under the waiting-point approximation and further determine the sets of conditions that can best reproduce the r-process abundance patterns (r-patterns) inferred for the solar system and observed in metal-poor stars of the Milky Way halo. In broad agreement with previous…
Classical novae are caused by mass transfer episodes from a main sequence star onto a white dwarf via Roche lobe overflow. This material forms an accretion disk around the white dwarf. Ultimately, a fraction of this material spirals in and piles up on the white dwarf surface under electron-degenerate conditions. The subsequently occurring thermonuclear runaway reaches hundreds of megakelvin and explosively ejects matter into the interstellar medium. The exact peak temperature strongly depends on the underlying white dwarf mass, the accreted mass and metallicity, and the initial white dwarf lum…
We study the stars of the binary system 16 Cygni to determine with high precision their chemical composition. Knowing that the component B has a detected planet of at least 1.5 Jupiter masses, we investigate if there are chemical peculiarities that could be attributed to planet formation around this star. We perform a differential abundance analysis using high resolution (R = 81,000) and high S/N (~700) CFHT/ESPaDOnS spectra of the 16 Cygni stars and the Sun; the latter was obtained from light reflected of asteroids. We determine differential abundances of the binary components relative to the…
We implemented non-solar-scaled opacities in a simultaneous derivation of fundamental parameters and abundances. We carried out a high-precision stellar parameters and abundance determination by applying non-solar-scaled opacities and model atmospheres. Our sample is composed by 20 stars including main-sequence and evolved objects. Opacities for an arbitrary composition and vmicro were calculated through the Opacity Sampling method. We obtained a small difference in stellar parameters derived with non-solar-scaled opacities compared to classical solar-scaled models. The differences in Teff, lo…
The binary system 16 Cygni is key in studies of the planet-star chemical composition connection, as only one of the stars is known to host a planet. This allows us to better assess the possible influence of planet interactions on the chemical composition of stars that are born from the same cloud and thus, should have a similar abundance pattern. In our previous work, we found clear abundance differences for elements with Z$\leq30$ between both components of this system, and a trend of these abundances as a function of the condensation temperature (T$_{c}$), which suggests a spectral chemical …
The productions of thorium and uranium are key ingredients in $r$-process nucleo-cosmochronology. With the combination of improved nuclear and stellar data, we have made detailed investigations on the $r$-process abundance pattern in the very metal-poor halo stars based on the classical $r$-process approach. It is found that the results are almost independent of specified simulations to observed abundances. The influence from nuclear mass uncertainties on Th/U chronometer can approach 2 Gyr. Moreover, the ages of the metal-poor stars HE 1523-0901, CS 31082-001, and BD +17$^\circ$3248 are deter…
We present a high-precision, differential elemental abundance analysis of the HAT-P-1 stellar binary based on high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio Keck/HIRES spectra. The secondary star in this double system is known to host a transiting giant planet while no planets have yet been detected around the primary star. The derived metallicities ([Fe/H]) of the primary and secondary stars are identical within the errors: $0.146 \pm 0.014$ dex ($σ$ = 0.033 dex) and $0.155 \pm 0.007$ dex ($σ$ = 0.023 dex), respectively. Extremely precise differential abundance ratios of 23 elements have been me…
Neutrino-driven ejecta in core collapse supernovae (CCSNe) offer an interesting astrophysical scenario where lighter heavy elements between Sr and Ag can be synthesized. Previous studies emphasized the important role that ($α,n$) reactions play in the production of these elements, particularly in neutron-rich and alpha-rich environments. In this paper, we have investigated the sensitivity of elemental abundances to specific ($α,n$) reaction-rate uncertainties under different astrophysical conditions. Following a Monte Carlo nucleosynthesis study with over 36 representative astrophysical wind c…
