Nucleosynthesis of "light" Heavy Nuclei in Neutrino-driven Winds. Role of (a,n) reactions

Abstract

Neutrino-driven winds following core collapse supernovae have been proposed as a suitable site where the so-called light heavy elements (between Sr to Ag) can be synthetized. For moderately neutron-rich winds, (a,n) reactions play a critical role in the weak r process, becoming the main mechanism to drive nuclear matter towards heavier elements. In this paper we summarize the sensitivity of network-calculated abundances to the astrophysical conditions, and to uncertainties in the (a,n) reaction rates. A list of few (a,n) reactions were identified to dominate the uncertainty in the calculated elemental abundances. Measurements of these reactions will allow to identify the astrophysical conditions of the weak r process by comparing calculated/observed abundances in r-limited stars.